They say it pays to shop around. They don’t tell you it will drive you insane.

For some reason, the standard electricity contract in Australia is the most expensive option. If you don’t negotiate a contract you can end up paying lots more than you need to. But the electricity companies don’t make it easy to compare prices, offering percentage discounts off their “standard” rates, which vary a little. Even someone like me who can cope with numbers finds it mind-bogglingly complex.

Last year, for the church, I took up an offer from Company A which offered a 12 month contract with a 24% discount. When the contract expires next month, they would only offer a 12% discount.

So I consulted the meerkat people who aggregate offers from different companies and they came up with an offer from Company B which offered a 24% discount and 11c solar feed in. I signed up for that contract, thinking I was done and dusted for two years.

This morning, just after I got home from my bike ride, a representative from Company A rang me and asked why we were transferring to Company B. I explained how I was able to do better with Company A. His counter offer was a 32% discount, but just 8c for solar. He would backdate the offer to January 17th. So I thought, “This is even better.” so I accepted his new offer. He even helped me by transferring me direct to Company B’s cancellation number.

Now Company B decided to match the offer but with 11c feed-in, if I complete the transfer to them.

I hope that’s the end of the ping-pong! I really don’t like this business of working your way down to a lower price, especially when that price was always available but they just don’t want to tell you about it up front.

In the old days, where the electricity market was a Government-controlled monopoly, you just got a price and that was it. Competition has to be better for everyone, but sometimes it is hard work to save a few bucks!