Update: AGL has “sincerely apologised” for an “internal process error” that resulted in some customers on quarterly bill cycles being issued their bills on a shorter cycle in August.

AGL, Australia’s largest electricity retailer, has raised the ire of Victorian customers after it began issuing fortnightly bills for power usage.

In the past month, households in the northern suburbs of Melbourne have received multiple power bills.

An investigation by The New Daily found that AGL sent quarterly bills to customers on standard contracts in late July and a few weeks later issued additional bills for up to two weeks of service.

Under Victorian electricity regulations, AGL is not permitted to bill customers on standard contracts more than once every three months without obtaining consent from the user.

One irate AGL customer on a standard contract told The New Daily that an AGL customer service officer blamed electricity distributor Jemena for the “mistake”.

“The customer service person told me that AGL could do nothing to stop the second bill being sent out because it was Jemena’s decision to do a meter read of my property,” the customer said.

“They didn’t let me know in advance that they could change the billing frequency like this.”

Another customer, also on a standard contract, said they had also received a bill for around two weeks of power use, but that AGL’s billing rarely coincided with three months’ use.

“They seem to think they can send out bills whenever they want – I’m sick of it,” he said.

“Sometimes you get billed for 60 days, or whatever they want.

“Now they’re sending them out for 10 days of service.”

AGL may have breached its obligations

Under the Victorian Energy Retail Code, AGL and other power sellers are required to obtain consent from consumers who are on ‘standard contracts’.

The AGL customers interviewed by The New Daily insist they did not receive any request from the company to vary the frequency of their invoices.

It could be time to check if you are on a ‘standard’ or ‘market’ contract.

There are about 250,000 households and 100,000 businesses in Victoria on standard agreements with their electricity suppliers.

These customers have greater protection against irregular billing than households and businesses who are on so-called ‘market contracts’.

Market contracts tend to offer cheaper power rates but customers have less legal protection and are usually billed at the end of each month.

Gavin Dusty, the manager of policy at St Vincent de Paul, said the introduction of smart meters had spawned a raft of billing problems for Victorian households.

“Smart meters give retailers the flexibility to bill more frequently,” Mr Dusty said.

“We’ve seen some fundamental problems around billing for all major providers in the last five years.

“Billing problems collectively represent one of the big issues in the industry.”

How clever are smart meters?

All Victorian households have been slugged hundreds of dollars since 2009 to cover the cost of installing smart meters that enable remote readings of household power use.

Consumers are still paying for the rollout that was mandated by the former Brumby Labor government in 2009.

There are concerns that smart meters are the cause of the billing issue. Photo: Getty

Without the smart meters the cost to retailers of issuing multiple invoices each quarter would be prohibitive.

In a report published last year, the Victorian auditor-general questioned whether the benefits flowing from the rollout would exceed the costs borne by households.

“The reality of the smart meter rollout is that the state approved a program, many of the costs of which it could not directly control, nor drive many of the benefits ascribed to it,” the Auditor-General said.

The Auditor-General found that 13.5 per cent of the new meters did not work, even though the system had cost households and business more than $2 billion to get up and running.

A spokesman for Stop Smart Meters Australia pressure group said disgruntled customers should lodge formal complaints with the electricity ombudsman.

“They should go to the electricity ombudsman and lodge complaints,” the spokesman said.

“If they’re on a quarterly billing contract and still get bills irregularly then the provider might be in breach of the code.”

NSW consumer advocates warn about smart meters

Smart meters are not being mandated in New South Wales, but consumer advocates are worried that retailers might be using the rollout to coax households onto market contracts.

Consumers may not realise that a smart meter will vary their contract, advocate says. Photo: AAP

About 40 per cent of NSW households are currently on standard contracts that offer stronger legal protection for consumers, but retailers are offering free installation of smart meters if customers switch to market contracts.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is worried that many consumers may be unaware that their terms and conditions are likely to change when they are offered a free meter.

“Our main concern at the moment is that some retailers are rolling out smart meters without providing much information up-front about a range of issues, from the ownership of the meter, to changes to contract terms and conditions,” PIAC chief executive Jonathon Hunyor said.

“We understand that smart meters are being provided on an ‘opt-out’ basis, which means that retailers aren’t obtaining explicit, informed consent.

“We would advise consumers considering getting a smart meter to talk to their retailer and be clear about fees and charges and how their tariffs will be affected.”