{"id":37522,"date":"2020-02-24T12:08:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T01:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=37522"},"modified":"2021-01-27T14:42:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T04:12:12","slug":"credit-refund-electricity-retailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/credit-refund-electricity-retailer\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Get A Credit Refund From Your Electricity Company"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Electricity

If you expect your energy retailer to send you any money they owe you without you asking for it, you may be disappointed.<\/p><\/div>\n

A reader\u2019s email last week led me down too many rabbit holes, but I think it was worth it. The reader asked us to look into how electricity companies handle refunds of customer credits accumulated under solar feed-in tariffs (FiTs). Can customers get credit refunds automatically, and what happens to credits at the end of a contract?<\/p>\n

Those questions bump up against a very common consumer protection issue: overly-complex consumer terms and conditions can make it hard to understand how things work, and as a consequence, consumers might miss out on their entitlements.<\/p>\n

The amounts involved can definitely be non-trivial – as SolarQuotes Founder Finn Peacock mentioned to me:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can’t get a credit on your bill as cash in the bank – then that will seriously mess up the payback of the solar for many people. For example with a big system it is not unusual to get a net $500+ credit in summer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So it\u2019s worth knowing how a provider handles refunds.<\/p>\n

What we found, looking through the feed-in tariff terms and conditions of 13 retailers, is credit refund policies either let customers register for automatic refund of credit balances (usually with a minimum balance applied to refunds); or the provider will offer refunds if requested.<\/p>\n

Only one retailer, Alinta Energy, excludes refunds. In its solar terms and conditions document (here’s the PDF<\/a>), we read:<\/p>\n

\u201cA Solar Electricity Credit has no value other than as prescribed in this Agreement, it is not transferable and we are not under any circumstances required to pay you any amount of money under the terms of this Agreement in respect of Solar Electricity Credits. Any Solar Electricity Credits which have accrued and, as at the date this\u00a0Agreement terminates, have not been set-off against amounts payable by you under your Energy Agreement will be extinguished without compensation to you effective upon termination of this Agreement.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note to solar power system owners from Finn:<\/strong> A good reason to avoid Alinta like the coronavirus!<\/em><\/p>\n

UPDATE: January 27, 2021<\/strong> – another retailer that appears to not offer cash payments is Sumo Power. Its terms<\/a> indicate only a credit against current and future bills will be applied and any credit left when the agreement terminates will be “extinguished”.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of those we surveyed, where we were able to identify a retailer\u2019s credit policy, we\u2019ve provided a summary in the table below.<\/p>\n

Selected Retailers’ Credit Policies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Provider<\/td>\nPolicy<\/td>\nStates identified in policy<\/td>\nMinimum balance<\/td>\nAuto?<\/td>\nDetails<\/td>\nNotes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AGL<\/td>\nOn application<\/td>\nNSW, SA and QLD<\/td>\n$10<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\nSeparate Vic policy here<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amaysim Energy<\/td>\nAnnual by request<\/td>\nNSW, SA, QLD, Vic<\/td>\n$100<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Aurora Energy<\/td>\nBy request, phone or Web form<\/td>\nTas<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Click Energy<\/td>\nCustomers can register an account to receive credits<\/td>\nNSW, SA, QLD, Vic<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nY<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DC Power Co<\/td>\nBy phone or e-mail request<\/td>\nNSW, SA, QLD, Vic<\/td>\n$100<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Discover Energy<\/td>\nCustomers can either register for periodic credits, or get credits by request<\/td>\nNSW, SA, QLD, Vic<\/td>\n$50<\/td>\nY<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dodo<\/td>\nOn application, quarterly<\/td>\nVictoria<\/td>\n$100<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Energy Australia<\/td>\nBy cheque, phone or e-mail request only<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\nOffered to Power Response Program customers; not included in standard FiT terms<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Energy Locals<\/td>\nBy request<\/td>\nNSW<\/td>\n$200<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Origin Energy<\/td>\nCustomers can register an account to receive credits<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nY<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Powershop<\/td>\nBy phone or e-mail request<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\n$100<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ReAmped Energy<\/td>\nBy request<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nNot stated<\/td>\nN<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Synergy<\/td>\nCustomers can register a refund account<\/td>\nWA<\/td>\n$75<\/td>\nY<\/td>\nLink<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If a retailer is missing from this list, it\u2019s because we couldn\u2019t find any mention of credit refunds in their documentation – they may or may not offer credit refunds.<\/p>\n

Retailers who let you choose to automatically<\/em> get your credits<\/h2>\n

Only four of the retailers included in our table explicitly include automatic refunds to nominated accounts in their T&C documents (but you still have to register to receive them):<\/p>\n