Affordable electricity and flexibility in tariffs were key areas of focus last week, when Cotton Australia led a high-level electricity delegation to the St George region.

Cotton Australia General Manager Michael Murray was joined by senior representatives from Ergon Retail and Network, QLD Treasury (Energy Section), Department of Primary Industries, and Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF).

The delegation saw firsthand how the current tariff structure was actually forcing some irrigators off-grid, while others, including cotton ginners, were looking for viable energy alternatives.

The delegation visited three farms, a Mallawa Irrigation site, and the Queensland Cotton Gin.

Specific issues discussed included the possibility of sharing electricity between metering sites on one property, the importance of providing access to tariffs 60A and 60B to the St George area, the need for a consumption-based tariff as an alternative to demand-based tariffs for large users, the impact of the unrealistically low Small Business/Large Business threshold of 100 MWh/yr, the need to be able to supply surplus energy to the grid if renewables are to have significant uptake on farms, and the otherwise poor business decisions that are driven by trying to time electricity use to minimise demand charges.

Mr Murray said that for a variety of reasons, policy and tariff changes in these areas are notoriously slow, but he was confident some progress had been made by showing the delegation firsthand some of the issues, and that this visit followed up on the issues raised during a similar visit by senior Ergon officials in March last year.

Mr Murray said while progress in this area is slow, there was one thing all electricity users could do to reduce their bills, and that was to do regular tariff checks. “We know of cases where people have saved thousands of dollars simply by moving to a more appropriate tariff.”

There are a number of relatively simple ways to check whether you are on your best tariff. They are:

• The Federal Government offers a similar tariff comparison tool – Energy Made Easy. The key input you require is your ‘National Meter Identification’ number.

• QLD Customers:

  1. Ergon My Account Energy Analysis. You need to register here and enter your National Meter Identification number, which can be easily found on one of your Ergon bills. Provided you have a time and event meter, this tool should look at your own actual usage data and run a comparison to demonstrate whether you are on the best tariff for your load profile.

  2. The Queensland Farmers’ Federation’s Energy Information Service for Landholders (EISL) is a free phone service that gives you guidance on a range of on-farm energy questions such as optimal irrigation and electricity tariff options, access to energy efficiency grants, and emerging energy technology opportunities. The service is available Monday – Friday from 8:30am – 5pm. To contact the service, call 07 3329 7500.