Why monthly billing works better for most energy users

We know every household is different and different people have different ways they like to do things, including their household budgeting.

However, we also know the one thing that upsets people more than almost anything else is bill shock. Not getting a bill for months means energy users are kept in the dark, blissfully unaware of their energy consumption, until they get a large bill covering a long period.

There are enough other stresses in your life without the added financial stress of receiving a much bigger bill than you expect or, even worse, several at the same time.

The impact on your cashflow is bad enough but having no visibility or understanding of your household energy use can be an even bigger issue.

Customers tell us they prefer the predictability of monthly billing, as they like to know how their energy usage is progressing.

Monthly billing is a bit more work for us but, on the flip side, it does help our business maintain a steadier cashflow. That’s why you’ll find that most of our best value gas plans come with monthly billing, because the cashflow saving is passed on in the lowest rate we can provide – in line with our mission to keep your bills as low as possible.

How we provide your monthly bills

Depending on your meter type, your local distributor manually reads your meter and provides us with the actual usage data every three months (sometimes every two months).

We take your measured annual usage (assuming we have the data) and calculate a daily average based on the history of actual usage at the individual meter. Over time, as we’re able to crunch the data from more actual reads, we continue to refine the estimate to ensure it’s as reflective of your current usage as possible.

You can keep track

You can track your meter reads and see the history of the estimates and actual reads in your “My Account” portal. It’s free and gives you 24/7 access to all your account and billing information.

If you haven’t already registered click here.

If you feel like checking how our estimates track along with the actual reads, you can view a historical chart that shows you both side by side. This way you can see exactly how accurate the estimates are and you can also see a timeline of the actual reads.

An ‘inaccurate’ estimate will only be slightly lower or higher than it should be, but once the next actual read is done, we immediately adjust your account based on that actual read to ensure that you only pay for the energy you’ve used.

For example, in the instance a bill is overestimated, when we do receive the next actual reading from the Local Distributor you would receive a credit for any previous over payment. This means the bill would likely be much lower or you would not have to pay anything for that current period depending on the actual reading itself. This also applies in the instance that the bill has been underestimated, it means we would bill you for any missed usage during the estimated periods when the actual read arrives.

You are always in control

Should you be worried that your estimate is too wide of the mark – which might happen if you have a significant change in your usage pattern (for example, if you change from or to gas appliances) – you can always have a quick glance at your own meter. It will show you the read on the dial.

To provide us with your usage data via what we refer to as a self-read, just snap a photo of the meter, clearly showing the numbers on the dial, and send it to our team at CS@GloBirdEnergy.com.au.

Why billing monthly makes good sense

Without monthly estimates, budgeting can be more difficult for customers and the billing experience lumpy and uneven.

For example, if you use $100 of electricity every month and $100 of gas every month, you might have received a series of bills like this:

To help smooth out the billing for the months when we don’t receive an actual gas meter read from your local distributor, we will use an estimate based on your previous usage instead.

As a result, you’ll receive bills more like this:

Smaller, more regular billing makes managing bills easier. Importantly, we always use the actual reads to make 100% sure you only ever pay for the energy you consume. To learn more about the convenience of combined monthly gas & electricity on a single bill, click here…