AGL’s “Night Saver Energy Plan”

[MelbMY24]

I think it was a day or two, then I switched. Because the credit was already in my account, I wasn’t too fussed about it. I was more worried about the potential loss of the $100 extra sign in bonus (Westpac customer), but that came through a month later as well as planned. But with charging about 150kWh per week between our vehicles, waiting a month to switch to the EV plan would have cost us about $75 in extra electricity anyway.

Thanks, that's great to know - I'll keep an eye on the account balance daily once the service moves over to AGL next month.

(Hopefully) once the credit is applied, I'll changeover to the EV plan.

I haven't changed over a plan so soon after it starts / the monthly billing cycle starts - isn't it a normal practice for utilities in that plans change only once the current billing cycle is up?

ie. You generally can't have 2 days on Plan A and then changeover and have Plan B for the remaining 28 days? Would be ideal if it did so I could take advantage of the cheaper midnight-6am rate immediately!

 

[cafz]

I haven't changed over a plan so soon after it starts / the monthly billing cycle starts - isn't it a normal practice for utilities in that plans change only once the current billing cycle is up?

Sometimes they'll backdate the plan change to the start of the billing cycle.

 

[dronus]

Sometimes they'll backdate the plan change to the start of the billing cycle.

That’s what AGL did for me. I changed at the end of the cycle and they backdated my midnight-6am usage from ~22c to 8c so my bill went down haha

 

[Jules22]

OT but meanwhile with the coal stations having trouble and interconnection issues I've been raking it in here. $500 profit from selling power in the last 36 hrs and looks like another lucrative FIT tonight

 

[Max Spaghetti]

OT but meanwhile with the coal stations having trouble and interconnection issues I've been raking it in here. $500 profit from selling power in the last 36 hrs and looks like another lucrative FIT tonight

Wow, I take it you would be with Amber then and not AGL for that kind of FIT? What was the peak FIT you were seeing?

The corollary would be that if you were importing power with Amber you would have been paying megabucks per kWh instead?

When I tried Amber (without a solar or battery system) I was paying considerably more than I would have with a retailer over a 12 month period (I added it all up and then got rid of Amber about 12 months ago). For my situation (and distribution network), Amber didn't work. But if I was able to arbitrage and/or produce significant own solar compared to my high consumption I can see that it could be made to work very well.

 

[Jules22]

Wow, I take it you would be with Amber then and not AGL for that kind of FIT? What was the peak FIT you were seeing?

The corollary would be that if you were importing power with Amber you would have been paying megabucks per kWh instead?

When I tried Amber (without a solar or battery system) I was paying considerably more than I would have with a retailer over a 12 month period (I added it all up and then got rid of Amber about 12 months ago). For my situation (and distribution network), Amber didn't work. But if I was able to arbitrage and/or produce significant own solar compared to my high consumption I can see that it could be made to work very well.

Yeah it's been up around $17 for extended periods.

Definitely need a battery to make use of it though I'm told people do it without.

I think there's a guarantee that the max you pay is 2 or 3x the reference rate but would still require a lot of monitoring and adjusting usage to be better than a normal plan without batteries.

With batteries it's just set and forget have over $700 credit now so time to organise another payout.

These are the stats for yesterday

 

[Max Spaghetti]

Yeah it's been up around $17 for extended periods.

I still have my Amber app and just had a look. Over the 24 hours of today (midnight to midnight) Amber is varying between 42c and 52c, and their FIT is varying between 25c and 33c. So different distribution areas make big differences.

My AGL plan is 26c with the 8c off-peak 0000-0600.

My May consumption is 70 kWh/day, so I would need a lot of solar and battery to become an exporter rather than a consumer, and it's a cloudy day here today anyway...

I think there's a guarantee that the max you pay is 2 or 3x the reference rate

Yeah, there was something like that, but IIRC then they changed the terms and limited that "insurance policy" to a certain number of kWh. My usage was way above their limit, so I was actually considerably exposed to very high power prices.

 

[cafz]

OT but meanwhile with the coal stations having trouble and interconnection issues I've been raking it in here. $500 profit from selling power in the last 36 hrs and looks like another lucrative FIT tonight

The NSW/ACT region has now entered Administered Pricing due to the sustained high prices, which means the wholesale price will be capped at $600/MWh (60c/kWh) for at least the next week or so.

 

[Jules22]

The NSW/ACT region has now entered Administered Pricing due to the sustained high prices, which means the wholesale price will be capped at $600/MWh (60c/kWh) for at least the next week or so.

Yeah, just saw that. Spoil sports!

 

[bcarp]

I haven't changed over a plan so soon after it starts / the monthly billing cycle starts - isn't it a normal practice for utilities in that plans change only once the current billing cycle is up?

I don't know what's "normal". Last week, I noticed that the new AGL plans in my area had dropped in price. This isn't automatically applied to your rates. So, I switched at 6am from the Night Saver EV (old, higher rates with 8c overnight) to the standard Value Saver (new, lower rates without 8c overnight). Once I confirmed this had taken effect later that day at 4pm, I rang them & changed to the Night Saver EV (with the new, lower rates with 8c overnight). The Night Saver EV plan is basically a bolt-on to your existing base plan that give you 8c overnight, so I was just trying to change my base plan.

What ended up happening was that the new Value Saver plan took effect from midnight of the morning that I had done this, and the Night Saver EV plan took effect from midnight of the night that I had done this.

 

[louco73]

Sigh...

When I moved back to Australia, this is what I was paying in 2020.

That was a good plan associated with an apartment complex, so the following is in the extreme. However, it's still based on real numbers that I was paying.

Inflation over 4 years.

Supply charge 129%
Usage charge 107%

 

[Max Spaghetti]

I haven't had an email from them yet (Vic). Waiting.

At least the 8c stands - I have been wondering how long that will last.

 

[Baobab]

I haven't had an email from them yet (Vic). Waiting.

At least the 8c stands - I have been wondering how long that will last.

Well - this is unusual, the first price decrease for me probably - ever?
So those new prices depend on distribution area I guess, some goes up some down. I this case I am not complaining.

 

[singlespeed]

Well - this is unusual, the first price decrease for me probably - ever?
So those new prices depend on distribution area I guess, some goes up some down. I this case I am not complaining.


View attachment 1056028

Can you charge your home batteries during that 12-6 period as well? I know the fine print says no controlled load, but I’m curious if a Powerwall would similar to any other appliance or car charging during that time? I’m going to have a plan B should I have a rate change soon.

 

[Vostok]

Can you charge your home batteries during that 12-6 period as well? I know the fine print says no controlled load, but I’m curious if a Powerwall would similar to any other appliance or car charging during that time?

In practice, there is no way your retailer can know or prove what is using your electricity. A PW2 is not a “controlled load”. So knock your socks off.

All the retailers with EV-type plans have various Ts&Cs, though, so that they have legal recourse should they ever be able to tell what you are using the electricity for, and further, want to take some kind of action about it if they think it is in violation of the Ts&Cs.

At present, I think the risk of either of those things happening is close to zero. The macro data they collect on usage profiles is probably more valuable to them in the short term.

 

[Jules22]

In practice, there is no way your retailer can know or prove what is using your electricity. A PW2 is not a “controlled load”. So knock your socks off.

All the retailers with EV-type plans have various Ts&Cs, though, so that they have legal recourse should they ever be able to tell what you are using the electricity for, and further, want to take some kind of action about it if they think it is in violation of the Ts&Cs.

At present, I think the risk of either of those things happening is close to zero. The macro data they collect on usage profiles is probably more valuable to them in the short term.

Yep, I used to do this when I had a 'cheap' off-peak plan before I moved to Amber.

 

[gazza]

In practice, there is no way your retailer can know or prove what is using your electricity. A PW2 is not a “controlled load”. So knock your socks off.

All the retailers with EV-type plans have various Ts&Cs, though, so that they have legal recourse should they ever be able to tell what you are using the electricity for, and further, want to take some kind of action about it if they think it is in violation of the Ts&Cs.

At present, I think the risk of either of those things happening is close to zero. The macro data they collect on usage profiles is probably more valuable to them in the short term.

Yeah I am with Origin on the 360 EV plan (for over a year). This has free electricity from 10am and 3pm, and I have been charging 2 x EVs, filling up 2 x powerwalls and running A/C, dishwasher and washing machine during these hours with no issue.

 

[OzVic]

Can you charge your home batteries during that 12-6 period as well? I know the fine print says no controlled load, but I’m curious if a Powerwall would similar to any other appliance or car charging during that time? I’m going to have a plan B should I have a rate change soon.

I've had no issue at all. For me it's only an extra 13.5kWh of energy which I could have easily done in the car anyway.

Just make sure to turn your hydro off and smelt your aluminium during working hours and you should have no worries.

 

[dronus]

I've had no issue at all. For me it's only an extra 13.5kWh of energy which I could have easily done in the car anyway.

Just make sure to turn your hydro off and smelt your aluminium during working hours and you should have no worries.

<looks up from writing in notebook> Smelt metals during the day, tick.

 

[Baobab]

Can you charge your home batteries during that 12-6 period as well? I know the fine print says no controlled load, but I’m curious if a Powerwall would similar to any other appliance or car charging during that time? I’m going to have a plan B should I have a rate change soon.

Powerwall is not on the controlled load so no problem at all.