An outraged Australian has revealed the outrageous rise in his gas bill.
Under the headline ‘Dodo Gas Price Increase: 46 Percent’, a Reddit user from Sydney lamented the impending steep increase by telecoms and energy retailer Dodo.
“My surprise came when I saw the email from Dodo with the price increase,” the post said.
‘It’s true that they are giving me a generous $5 discount because I also have NBN with them, but a 46 per cent increase in the daily (gas) supply charge is a real punch in the gut.
“The 1.4 percent increase in usage is almost human compared to this.”
In response to another person who said they had been charged a 10 per cent increase from AGL, the original poster urged others to speak out against price increases by energy suppliers.
“A few days ago I saw another thread about AGL that inspired me to create this one,” they wrote.
“We hope it will help track development and maybe make people jump up and shame their retailers.”
A Reddit user was shocked to hear of a sharp increase in the prices they pay for natural gas.
Many of those who commented offered some helpful tips.
“Just change providers. There is no reward for staying with one provider,” wrote one.
‘Even if they lower rates, it’s up to you to check and proactively contact them, even though they will happily charge you more.’
Another asked: Do you rent or own?
‘If it’s the latter, do what you can to ditch the gas (induction cooking, heat pump air conditioning and heat pump hot water) and adopt a variable schedule plan so that hot water uses cheap electricity during the day.’
However, another Reddit user said the strategy was fatally flawed.
“I’ve looked into this,” they argued.
‘It costs a fortune to do all that electrification stuff!
“Any energy cost savings will pay for themselves over several decades, and there are no government incentives or rebates to help with this.”
Australian consumers are being hit by rising petrol prices, something the energy regulator could do this winter and next (file image)
The energy regulator has previously warned that Australia’s east coast could face severe gas shortages as extreme weather conditions hamper supplies.
Australian Energy Market Operator (AMEO) chief executive Daniel Westerman said falling production in Bass Strait threatened gas supplies for the next three winters.
“There are risks of supply shortages on peak days every winter, if there are periods of very high demand for both heating gas and gas and electricity generation at the same time,” he told the ABC.
‘From 2027 onwards, we stress the need to invest in new sources of gas supply to overcome the projected annual deficits every year thereafter.’
Kevin Morrison, an expert in energy economics and financial analysis, told the Daily Mail Australia that Australians were paying twice the price of gas as Americans despite both countries being major exporters of the energy source.
Although Australia is a major exporter of natural gas, Australians pay twice the price for this energy source than Americans.
He said a lack of competition was largely the reason why most of the gas produced in Australia was exported.
“In the United States, there are large companies such as Chevron and Exxon, as well as others such as Shell, in a significant way,” Morrison explained.
‘In Australia, the largest producers of coal gas are three Queensland consortia, and most of the gas they produce goes to sea.’
The other major gas producer in eastern Australia is the joint venture between Exxon and Woodside in the Gippsland Basin region of south-east Victoria.
“They and the Queensland consortia control three-quarters of Australia’s eastern gas reserves,” Morrison said.
“If there were a handful of producers, they would know what the others were doing and could prevent the markets from becoming saturated with gas.”