More than 94,000 Tasmanians on electricity concession accounts will receive a $180 discount on their bills under the Tasmanian Government’s targeted new Winter Energy Assistance Package.
This package, which begins from tomorrow 1 July, has been designed to support those who need it most in our community, while also help Tasmanian families and small businesses future proof against bill shock and give Tasmanians the tools they need to lower their bills.
The Winter Bill Buster will apply to 94,230 Tasmanians on concession cards and also eligible customers in embedded networks. Eligible concession card holders will receive this automatically on their next bill from 1 August, regardless which energy retailer they are with.
This will cover the entire bill increase for low to median power use concession customers.
A boosted and expanded $50 million Energy Saver Loan Scheme will also provide up to $10,000 for an interest free loan to private residential customers, small business customers and landlords of residential rental properties to invest in energy efficient products to help lower their electricity bills.
This includes changing heating to a more efficient heat pump, double glazing windows, installing solar panels, insulation and other energy efficient products and appliances.
Those who are interested can pre-register for more information on this Scheme at www.recfit.tas.gov.au/household_energy.
An important part of the of the Winter Energy Assistance Package is the announcement that Aurora Energy will provide its aurora+ app at no charge from 1 July.
Previously aurora+ has been available to consumers for an additional cost of about $40 per year, however we want to ensure as many Tasmanians are signed up to aurora+ as possible over the next 12 months, facilitated by the accelerated roll-out of advanced meters.
Aurora+ is a critical tool in providing Tasmanians greater visibility over their electricity usage. In fact, Tasmanians using aurora+ are significantly less likely to experience bill shock and their debt levels are significantly lower than customers who don’t.
Aurora+ can be used on your smart phone, tablet or PC. Aurora also has staff on-hand to help Tasmanians with accessing concession payments, advice on investing in energy efficient appliances, helping customers in financial stress and also explaining to customers how Aurora+ can be used to cut bills.
Aurora also has a $1.7 million Aurora Customer Support Fund and YES incentive payment extensionto support residential and small business customers experiencing financial vulnerability with subsidised payment plans and one-off payments.
Aurora’s YES program (financial hardship) incentive payment will also be extended for another 12 months from 1 July 2023, to provide residential customers who are meeting their payment commitments at their quarterly review with a credit to the value of their next fortnightly instalment up to $200.
This is in addition to $200,000 recently made available from Aurora to the Salvation Army and emergency relief providers to assist customers experiencing vulnerability.
And, the Tasmanian Government has also doubled funding to the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILs) for low income Tasmanians to purchase things like household, medical and education essentials up to $1500 and to help avoid expensive personal loans. For more information on the NILs program please visit www.nilstasmania.org.au.
The Tasmanian Government will continue to monitor cost of living pressures on Tasmanians and we stand ready to respond with further measures if required.
Any residential customers who are customers of Aurora Energy that need an extra hand are encouraged to contact Aurora’s YES Team (Monday to Friday from 9am-4.30pm) on 1300 10 2010 or visit auroraenergy.com.au for more information on Aurora’s programs, including signing up to the aurora+ app.