Power bills still hurting, amid fears they’ll go higher and lack of trust in pollies to fix them

Hardship has trumped energy efficiency as the most common way to keep power bills affordable this winter, according to the current FiftyUp Club energy poll available here

Asked to choose up to three strategies you’re using to keep bills down, 80% said turning off powerpoints and lights, and 58% are foregoing the heater, even though you’re cold.

“I'm going around my neighbourhood & looking for old wood to burn in my fireplace,” said one member in our forum.

This is compared to 39% who bought energy efficient appliances and 29% each for either buying solar panels or switching suppliers.

Just four per cent claimed they did nothing as they could afford the bills.

The findings are very timely as a legal battle begins in NSW that will have consequences for the entire country in the months to come.

The Australian Competition Tribunal is currently hearing challenges from the NSW state-owned electricity networks to proposed July 1 price cuts, and we'll be campaigning to make your voice heard in the deliberations.

Click here to take our 2-minute survey if you haven’t yet done so

The FiftyUp Club will then put together a submission for the tribunal on behalf of Australians over 50, who tend to be disproportionately impacted by higher power prices.

Very few of us seem to believe the politicians when they say power prices will go down.

Almost 70% feared electricity would rise significantly and 14% hoped for a smaller increase. Only 5% thought prices would be stable and 12% that they might even come down.

There was overwhelming support of 79% for the Australian Energy Regulator's proposal for drastic cost savings to consumers – up to a $300 a year for some households.

Almost 19% said their support  would depend on if there safeguards for workers.

Perhaps most interesting for students of consumer behaviour was much greater trust in the market and competition to contain power prices than the traditional champions of government and regulators.

Some 52% said the market looked after their interests with lower prices and better service ahead of the regulators such as the AER. Federal and state governments got scores of under 10% each.

When it comes to disconnection, a fate which befell nearly 33,000 households in NSW in 2013-14 thanks to unpaid bills, only 1% have actually been cut-off.  But we do wonder how many have had to do what this member has to pay their bills:

“Just can't afford to pay the bills. Spouse is still working at 71 and we still can't make ends meet. Have to frequently ask for extended time on electricity, phone, rates, water rates. Barely enough left for food.”