Jessica Gaddes said she was shocked to receive a $1,600 electricity bill this quarter as a single person. (Source: Supplied/TikTok)
A Sydney woman has shared her shock after receiving a huge $1,600 winter electricity bill. Millions of Australians across the country are being hit with big electricity bills, as retailers hike their prices.
Jessica Gaddes said she “could not believe it” and “almost fell over” when she received a nearly $1,600 quarterly electricity bill in her email. The 37-year-old lives alone with her two dogs in a two-bedroom home in the city’s south west.
“I always expect a big one around winter, but each year it is just going up and up. It’s not going up by small amounts, it’s going up by a massive amount,” Gaddes told Yahoo Finance.
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Gaddes’ last winter electricity bill was $1,070, while her previous quarterly bills were about $550 and $350 earlier in the year.
“I’ve actually decreased my usage. After the last one, I pulled everything out and actually unplug everything now,” she said.
“I don’t even have a dryer at the moment, that’s been gone for a couple of months now.”
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Gaddes’ electricity provider ENGIE advised that customer electricity rates had increased from July 1 this year. Gaddes rates went up by around 12 per cent.
It’s understood higher winter energy usage, the electricity rates increase and a slightly longer billing period are the reasons behind the higher-than-expected bill.
“If you receive a higher-than-expected energy bill that you think you might have some trouble paying, give us a ring,” an ENGIE spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
“We’re here to help and can do so in lots of different ways.”
Electricity prices rose 1.31 per cent in the 12 months to July, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data found.
This was largely due to government energy rebates ending, as well as price increases following annual changes in July.
The three major retailers, Origin, AGL and EnergyAustralia, have increased prices for existing customers by up to 13.5 per cent following approved price hikes from the regulators.
Other smaller retailers have imposed bigger hikes.
Since receiving the bill, Gaddes has set up a payment plan with her provider, so she will pay off the bill in $125 a week instalments.
She has also applied for the state government’s Energy Accounts Payment Assistance program, and plans to compare electricity plans to see if there is a cheaper option available.
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Gaddes has called for more transparency around electricity prices and noted it could be difficult to understand and decipher bills, with the terminology often feeling like “another language”.
“I feel like the jargon they use, they’re talking to people as if we know what they’re talking about. We have no idea,” she said.
“I’m young. I can only imagine if it was someone in their 60s, 70s ringing about a bill, they would not have a clue what they are talking about.”
Under new rules coming into effect on December 30, 2026, providers will have to include a ‘better offer’ message alerting customers if a cheaper plan is available on electricity bill communications, not just the bill itself.
Canstar Blue data found households in Sydney switching from the average-priced electricity plan to the lowest plan could save more than $400 in a year.
The group’s survey of 2,833 Aussies found just one in three energy customers fully understood their electricity bills.
A separate survey of 4,951 customers found 22 per cent of customers who had been with a provider for more than two years had not switched plans because they found the process of comparing the switching plans too complicated.
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