Energy companies under fire over move to 'punishing' time-of-use tariffs
ABCIn short: Households are having their electricity tariffs changed to so-called time-of-use rates, which charge them more at peak times. Enabling the change are smart meters that supposedly allow householders to see how much power they are using in "real time" while giving regulators and the industry better oversight of customers' usage. But the regulator also noted that the Australian Energy Market Commission, which sets the rules in the NEM, had "reached the view that the rollout of smart meters had progressed too slowly". A spokeswoman for Simply Energy said it was the poles-and-wires company that updated the tariff "to the default, which is currently the time of use tariff". Ross Womersley from SACOSS says time-of-use tariffs are "punishing" many households.
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