So far in 2025, Japan has seen minor increases in electricity prices from April (partly after comparatively small subsidies were suspended) and minor decreases from July (as they are reinstated). But Australia will see yet another much higher hike as its new financial year begins from July. The ABC, Australia’s equivalent of NHK, ran a segment on this for a news report on its 730 TV news show on 30 June 2025. The broadcast incorporated parts of an interview with me at home (plus some nice drone footage), including my recommendation that an energy supplier should automatically put their customers on any better plan – as I discussed a year ago here.
The news report also mentioned that I had complained through Choice (Australia’s peak NGO for consumers) to the consumer regulator about my electricity bills. That triggered Choice’s empirical inquiry uncovering widespread allegedly misleading bills being issued by Australian electricity suppliers, contrary to s18 of the Australian Consumer Law. Choice has filed its first-ever “designated complaint” requiring the ACCC to investigate further and notify publically whether or not it will pursue suppliers for such violations. Here, via Choice’s announcement, are some more details of the problem:
“… Luke, an academic specialising in consumer law, had a similar experience with EnergyAustralia. He received a bill that was 31% higher than the same quarterly billing period a year earlier, even though his energy usage hadn’t changed.
The bill said he could save $617 a year if he switched to the ‘Flexi Plan (Home)’ offer, which was the name of his current plan. Apparently he should have switched to this new version of the plan earlier.
“Eventually I got through to someone at EnergyAustralia and discovered they had a new plan with the same name but better terms,” Luke says. “I couldn’t resist telling them I think their bill’s wording is misleading.”
