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News$700k worth of savings tips from the government
$700k worth of savings tips from the government

$700k worth of savings tips from the government

Tags: Energy Information
Last updated by Someone on

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you would have noticed all the talk about energy prices. If you have been off the grid (pun intended), there’s no hiding from your energy bill, which will find you eventually. 

And so will the Federal Government’s latest $700,000 ad campaign!

Launched this month, the Powering Forward Campaign reportedly cost tax-payers $300,000 for 60 seconds of airtime during the AFL & NRL Grand Finals, and as much as $700,000 in fees to a Melbourne ad agency.

There's some useful information buried in there, but it's hidden behind propaganda pushing the government's energy policy credentials.

What do you think of the campaign?

Our take? The website contains some useful info for people wanting to save on power bills, for example it links to the Energy Made Easy comparison site and the Victorian Switchon site to compare offers.

It also contains energy efficiency tips for households, which can be handy.

But all that useful stuff is buried behind the silly “powering forward” slogan and some bumph about the Government’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 and gas reservation policies.

They’re important, but we’d like to see the moneysaving info up front and centre!

Here’s something else you can do to save.

A couple of months back, the Fiftyup Club started our Power-Up Campaign,  which now boasts a staggering 50,000 registrations nationally That tells us that you do want to do something about energy prices even if it’s just to send a message to power companies that enough is enough.

While Australia may rank second in the world for quality-of-life, we rate first in the world for the highest energy prices. Data from the Carbon + Energy Markets' MarkIntell service says we’re ahead of Germany, Denmark and Italy with 4 Australian states in the top ten (click here to see the list).

This despite Australia having every energy resource available in the world including coal, wind, solar, nuclear and sea-water hydro power.

What can you do? It’s as easy as picking up the phone, calling your energy retailer and asking for a better deal. Don’t take no for an answer. The energy market has never been so competitive and you can get results, with many members reporting savings in the hundreds of dollars.

Click here to see the latest Fiftyup Club energy offers, extended for a limited time only


 

 

Originally posted on .

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Terry
Terry from NSW commented:

Internet and phone discounts so we can keep in touch with grandkids We have the power for discounts now 

Richard
Richard from NSW commented:

I was already with Coles Car Insurance so could not take advantage of the insurance offer, and because I had solar panels, your electricity offer, was not as good as the current plan I am on with Energy Australia. Would not have saved anything by switching accross, possibly would have paid slightly more. It is a good cause you have taken up though, hopefully some of your offers in the new year are relevant to me, & I can take advantage of them. 

Kevin
Kevin from NSW commented:

Disappointed that Coles couldn't beat my quote by $100 as advertised but not surprised. We are over 50 you know... not born yesterday. 

Paul
Paul from NSW commented:

I think it was great of singo to put his considerable influence toward getting this to happen. I expect the next 12 months will see us all saving some money when sellers realise our age group has a great deal of buying capability and influence. 

david
david from NSW commented:

I checked out Coles car insurance. The saving was only for the first year. It was hard to get prices for the second year but it seems like any saving in year 1 is negated by big increase in year 2. Also checked out the solar offer. As I have solar panels I would not save anything. Whoever looks at the discounts need to look a bit harder at what is on offer. I'm over 50 and have been bitten too often. 

John
John from NSW commented:

John from Lawson NSW. I contacted Coles for a quote on my car insurance only to be told that the agreed value that they would insure my car for was several thousand dollars less than what I am insured for now and the saving on the amount they would insure me for was only a few dollars. Get real. 

Susan
Susan from NSW commented:

This is a great concept and I am sure we (over 50s) all appreciate the opportunity to save our hard earned dollars. I do not appreciate however the phone call I received from a bully who tried to coerce me into opting into the Coles Car Insurance offer ... when I explained that I did not wish to participate in this particular offer he said "Well why did you sign up for to FiftyUp Club". I explained that my understanding was that participation was not MANDATORY and if it was then I would opt out. He continued to badger me and as I was at work I offered to ring back on my time. When asked what the contact number was he replied "You can look it up on the website .. you get the emails don't you" ... not impressed. 

Lachlan
Lachlan from NSW commented:

HI everyone, please let us know what special offers you want us to work on by voting in the poll, and by commenting in the forum below. Cheers and have a great Christmas Lachlan 

Susan
Susan from NSW commented:

Today I made contacted Coles insurance after I made other dealings with several other insurance companies to obtain quotes for my vehicle only to be advised they could not match the other quotes. (Also I spent a long time on the phone with Coles) Very disappointed with the experience!!! 

David - FiftyUp Club
David - FiftyUp Club from NSW replied to Susan:

Hi Susan, please send me through some details to david@fiftyupclub.com and I can look into it for you. 

Monty
Monty from QLD commented:

Essential service that were taken over as Government enterprises and privatised are now milk cows for the respective sate governments who have been party to "gold plating" and forcing up power and water charges. Consumers should band together, refuse to pay these inflated charges and force the provders to reduce costs to manageble levels for all consumers. Essential services should be reinstatated. The over 50's Club would be an ideal conduit. 

Someone
Someone from NSW replied to Monty:

Now honestly do you think 'banding together' and 'refusing to pay' is likely? We are, and suppliers and governments are aware of it, the most apathetic collection of humans, with 2 day attention spans, that any supplier or government could be blessed with. Then of course we are told ' please no direct action, is required in a democracy'. In a democracy like Australia all you need to do is vote them out at the next election. OH YES and so you vote in almost the same under a different name. Little changes and we all put up with it. Have you noticed of the many hundreds of pages almost no one writes about self help. I did about two weeks ago but no one was interested. Standing in the supermarket I quickly realise have much poverty is self inflicted. If one is lazy disorganised and prone to silly choices in something one does every week it is often the case that this thinking colours many aspects of that persons life and finances .Yep hundreds of pages of I want, I should be given, Why don't they? I'm entitled to. I truly believe many, although not all, are by world standard reasonably well housed , clothed and fed, with a few fun dollars in their purse/wallet and a little more self help activity would increase their self esteem and levels of content.By the way I am a pensioner in private rental so I am not money rich. 

Perrine - FiftyUp Club
Perrine - FiftyUp Club from NSW replied to Monty:

Hi Monty, thank you for your tips and recommendations. Hopefully, we will be able to unlock discounts using the power of the FiftyUp Club, which will allow you to save! 

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