Dear fellow Electricity and Gas consumers.

Do you ever feel POWERLESS?
Do you cringe at the very sight of an obvious bill from TRU or ORIGIN ?
Do you hunger for some way of getting enough power to DO something about these outrageous demands on your hip pocket while high flying CEO's and upper management from these companies drive around in their 7 series Beamers or Mercs before parking them in their 5 car garage in their luxury mansions? (while you can only think of getting through the day financially!)

A random survey this morning reveals that 100% of people interviewed are favorable to the idea of a 'buying bloc' for Electricity and/or Gas.

Alone...we are weak and definitely powerLESS.

TOGETHER we can be a force to be reckoned with!

"Imagine" if you are a CEO of an energy company, and a 'representative' of a buying bloc presents you with 10,000 customer account numbers and an authorization to negotiate on their behalf and to change provider at the drop of a hat ?

AVERAGE QTRLY BILL $300 (my last 2 were $640 each)
CUSTOMERS= 10,000
TOTAL QTRLY INCOME TO ENERGY PROVIDER $3,000,000
ANNUAL INCOME $12,000,000 (or LOSS if bloc goes to another provider)

Then...imagine that the day after the person comes a knocking....*Poof* it's allll GONE !

How would your SHARE PRICE go?
How would your 'PERFORMANCE BONUS' go?
How would "Moral" within the company be ?

I invite criticism of this idea in terms of unexpected costs/consequences.

Provide Estimates of

-Setup Cost (admin/website)
-Employees needed
-Compliance/legal requirements

BLOC PROCUREMENT CAPABILITY.
-Solar Buying power. (Container loads direct)
-Advocate for special deal for Pensioners (in the bloc)
-Significant discount to bloc members
-Negotiate with Tradesmen for special rates.

I suddenly LOVE "Unions" :)

Banks....watch this space !

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/nsw-to-slash-costly-solar-feedin-tariff-20101027-173hs.html

So Govts give away billions of $ of your energy costs to a few
people, you get slugged extra as part of your power bill and
now you blame those execs.

Rational thinking is seems, is just not part of your make up, Boaz.

I welcome your newfound interest in solidarity Al.

Does your sudden epiphany extend to solidarity against the bosses and capitalists when it comes to working conditions and wages?
If not Why? If it is good enough for consumers it should be ok for workers too surely.
Why only electricity? Plenty of other companies gouging and harming the public that could be taken down a peg if we all stood together.
The banks for starters.

"Alone...we are weak and definitely powerLESS.

TOGETHER we can be a force to be reckoned with!"

Never forget only Solidarity makes us strong

Paying for power by postcode
http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/video#
Power companies are sending huge -bills with no explanation
and..postcodes are determining..how much*..people pay for their electricity.

Moving to a new house in Brisbane, Maggie Lawson kept her electricity account with Origin Energy,but she was shocked to find her bill had tripled at her new address...She immediately disputed the bill.

"The first person I spoke to at Origin actually went through all of my bills with me..and started with the first bill.. They said that the start read..that we had was an estimate,..so this is the point that every other bill is generated,"Maggie said.

"My question was how can that be a start,..how can a start read be an estimate?"

A year later..and there's still no explanation.

"Energex told me it was a faulty meter, Origin told me that it was a faulty meter,there's nothing wrong with the meter," Maggie said.

The only change was her address..and that can prove very,..very costly when it comes to electricity.

Today Tonight's discovere.. that power companies have free*reign to charge..what-ever they like,..*and often do.

*It seems it all comes down to..*where you live.

Ben Freund is from power price-comparison/website GoSwitch.com.au.

A person living in Parramatta will pay an average of $160 more a year than someone living half an hour away in Sydney's CBD...In Queensland,..a Bundaberg resident will pay $100 more than if they were living in Brisbane.

The biggest postcode discrimination..is in Melbourne's CBD where you'll pay $300 more than someone living in Fawkner,13 kilometres away.

"Some parts of the state are just more desirable for energy companies,"Ben said.

Power companies will target8..particular suburbs..offering discounts.

"Because they are more reliable,..some areas just have a more predictable consumption of electricity,"..Ben added.

Chris turned to the Energy Ombudsman,..as have thousands of other consumers.

"If you are going to query your bill,..do it quickly...A lot of discounts are tied to paying it on time so if you don't pay your bill on time, you may find your bill just got higher," Ben said.

,..Origin Energy is unable to comment on her case.

*ANNUAL INCOME $12,000,000 (or LOSS if bloc goes to another provider)*

Ah, if only life were so simple. I had a look for you, Boaz. Origin
work on roughly 7c in the Dollar as profit, so 93c would be costs.

So if your energy cost per unit were much lower, it would make more
sense to just cut you off :)

Its a human foible to blame everyone else for our own deficiencies,
I know, but the question arises, what do you do with that much
power, to have a bill of 640$? I gather that cost per kw/h is
around 20c in the east, much like here. Yet my power bill is around
160$.

Perhaps its all that watching Glenn Beck on the plasma screen.

I don't have a plasma, they are power guzzlers, so I have an LED,
much more efficient.
I have a solar hot water system, saves a fortune.
I cut my own wood for heating, saves a fortune and is great
exercise.

But I know, its easier just to blame those evil capitalists.
It doesen't require too much thinking and its common on OLO.

Yabby I am reluctant to inform you...companies, and in particular, CEOs and Directors lie, lie and lie [bathing in their capital] all in the name of profit, profit and more profit. 7c in the dollar? The other way around; 93c in the dollar retained for themselves and shareholders. The Directors tend to miss out on the big biccies in some companies or are used up and kicked out on their backsides when the new CEO is replaced after a few years.

Dog eat dog companies all put in place by government outsourcing and selling out overseas. Most 'energy' companies are international companies not Australian companies and well on their way to selling out 100% to Singapore and other countries.

Government caved in and made some quick dollars over the last few years without bothering to notify Australian taxpayers and ratepayers. Q: What do we receive for paying Rates, Stamp Duties, GST and all of the hidden taxes? A. The country's interests sold out overseas, higher costs of living, loss of services [escalating], do not get me started..., high interest rates, wait for the job losses and pay cuts, trade LOSSES, the country's stuffed, all from a long time ago.

Rising costs and hidden costs are added monthly. Most energy companies despatch their Accounts every few weeks instead of every month or two months. Other companies are doing the same. DUE by dates within a couple of weeks not 30 days.

Trot trot to the mailbox daily to find most bills with the same companies that were paid the week previously,now reappear in their mailboxes for another high out of this world amount.

Most of my friends have not seen a 'meter reading employee' in their suburbs for years.