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Who cares about gas?
Gas just flies under the radar. The Government have focussed entirely on regulating electricity. But think, while comparing gas rates is technically difficult, the prize can be big savings.
It’s time to care about gas
You should care because gas prices have moved up strongly as prices have shifted to parity with world market prices. Consider this: winter is on the way and gas usage is climbing right now. While the Government has put the heat on electricity, the gas companies have been quietly increasing their margins.
Standard Comparison services skim over gas
When they refer a gas customer, standard comparison services get paid half of what they get paid for an electricity customer, at best, and usually less. Many comparison services only get paid for gas customers when the same customer also switches for electricity. Which is not good news for you as a customer because nearly always the combined gas electricity deals are expensive compared with having separate providers.
If you just want to compare gas rates, iSelect, for example, only compare five companies (note: Red and Lumo are owned by Snowy). For business, they only compare 2 companies. It’s very limited choice when there are 17 suppliers for gas.
Do you just want to be sold to a gas company by the comparison service, so they get the maximum commission?
Can you work out the best deal yourself?
You can, if you’re numerate, skilled with a spreadsheet and prepared to put in the hours, but beware there’s some complications:
There are winter and summer gas rates, and not all providers have the same definition of winter. Gas is sold in blocks. For each block of usage, the rates are different and fall as you use more. Most providers have up to 4 blocks. That means that in each month, your rate is likely to vary because usage varies. How do you find out the rates that are not visible on the bill? e.g. how do you know the winter rates when you are looking at a summer bill? How do you know the price for the second block when only the first block appears on the bill? Comparing all these different gas rates can be challenging.
We looked at Michael and Bettina from Frankston who have 1 child at home. They could save $302/yr by getting the best gas rates, when compared with the average price charged by AGL, Origin and Energy Australia.
Is your head is spinning? Don’t worry, we will do it for you. Find out how much you could save free and if you want to have us get you your savings there’s a small fee of $10, but you only pay if you can save more than $100. For a home where savings are typically $150-300, but recently we have found many customers can save much more. We can source you the cheapest electricity price too.
Compare gas rates properly
At this time, it’s so important to save money. Visit Energy Umpire and get the cheapest gas rates. Unlike standard comparison services, we don’t accept inducements of any kind from energy companies. We independently compare every available offer from every company. Find out how much you could save.