With coverage in the SMH and on Today Tonight alongside Make It Cheaper, there's likely to be a high amount of awareness and uptake on a new idea and a new way to get home owners engaged in the electricity sector.

Boon How said: "10,000 Sparks is based on a group-buying scheme in Pennsylvania, which cut energy bills by, fifteen per cent - we're aiming for at least five to seven per cent off your bill. Obviously the more people, the better the price."

Tim Wolfenden, Managing Director at Make It Cheaper said: "Any idea which is going to engage New South Wales home owners, and get them excited about saving money, is a great idea!"

The prices hikes are a result of the need to increase Network charges and the impact of the Federal Governments Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme.

IPART Chairman, Mr Rod Sims, said "that the price increases would be difficult for many families to
deal with and are of serious concern."

Sydney metro and country New South Wales customers will be impacted the most, with price increases of 17.9% and 18.1% respectively.

Price increases break down as follows:

- 17.9% for customers in the old EnergyAustralia region

- 15.5% for customers in the old Integral Energy region

- 18.1% for customers in the old Country Energy region

Home owners can expect to see annual bill increases between $216 & $316, with business owners see hikes of $307 to $528.

Higher users will of course see higher $ hikes, which means home owners need to budget an additional $18 for every $100 of current spend, and businesses a massive $180 for every $1000 of spend.

On 1st July more of Tasmanian business customers will become contesable to competitors.

Both New South Wales and Queensland are facing potential electricity supply shortages over the next few years, which will have a significant impact on a households energy.  On top of that, the proposed Carbon Tax will keep prices punching further upwards

Mr McIndoe said: "A carbon price will add another $300 per household on top of that, so for a six-year period you're seeing an effective doubling of electricity prices per household with no tangible benefit"

There is growing concern in the industry that without clear consensus amongst the political parties, the investment landscape for utilities will remain in a state of flux, and likely result in ongoing price pressures.

The NSW solar scheme has now permanently closed, but the government has been forced to find ways to find cost savings in its misconceived solar scheme.

Whilst the now deceased scheme was the creation of the previous government headed by Keneally, it has not taken long for O'Farrell's team to set it's mark.

The biggest issue would appear to be that home owners made critical decisions in terms of investing in the solar asset, and will have relied on the favour rebate tariff to help cost the investment back through.

Despite the Japanese nuclear crisis, the nuclear power industry has generally held and excellent record in terms of safety, carbon and environment for decades.

Mr Nasser said: ''I don't think you can rule out any form of clean energy power,'' he said. ''I think it is unusual for a country to be so heavily dependent on one form of energy source and not look at a broad range of energy mix."

Key points made were that any carbon tax must not compromise competitiveness for Australian businesses, and that any capital investment made must not be off the back of state or federal incentives, or predetermination.  Capital investment must be made a commercially sound basis.

Vodafone recorded a 96 per cent jump in complaints to more than 14,670, following a period of mobile reception failures.

Ombudsman Simon Cohen set credit management as a key problem area for the telecommunications industry. "Credit management issues are particularly concerning because consumers most affected are often also the most vulnerable or disadvantaged," he said.

The minister told South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy: "There will, undoubtedly, be some changes in potential energy generation mixes globally. But for some countries, nuclear will remain an important part of the energy mix"

Nuclear makes up a significant proportion of the energy mix in countries like Finland and France, but remains a hot topic in Australia.

With the governments unwavering resolve around the carbon tax, nuclear will still remain a challenging and interesting conversation for Australians.

A seriously worring trend shows that customers who missed a payment in any given quarter has risen by 40 per cent in the past 12 months.

Chris Gration of Veda Advantage said: "It's a really worrying situation because there is clearly a growing group of people having difficulty with utility bills as the costs continue to rise and it doesn't look as though things are going to get any easier".

Fuel Poverty in New South Wales has now hit a record high, and with a proposed 18% electricity price hike due in July 2011, things are not going to get any easier.

These are the prices that EnergyAustralia (now owned by TRUenergy), Integral Energy and Country Energy (both owned by Origin Energy) charge customers who have not signed a market contract (competitive contracted deal).

IPART have recommended that electricity prices increase by 18% for NSW customers.  Break down by retailers as follows

• EnergyAustralia = 17.9%
• Integral Energy = 16.4%
• Country Energy = 18.1%

This will in real terms mean that customers will now have to spend an additional $18 in every $100 they already spend on their energy bills.

In July 2010, electricity prices increased by an average 10% for all NSW customers - a price increase which was adopted by all retailers, regardless of their incumbent customers base.

The compounded affect will mean that most NSW customers, home owners or business operators, will see the compounded effect of 30% increase in just a single 12 months period.

Reasons attributed to the newly recommened price increase are:

• Increases in network charges = 10%
• Increases in wholesale energy costs = 1%
• Increases in retail costs and margin = 1%
• Increases arising from changes to RET = 6%

RET Increases (Renewable Energy Target) are a result of the changing and splitting of the existing schemes in January 2011.  This has meant the LRET (Large Renewable Energy Target) and SRET/SRES (Small Renewable Energy Target), have been split, and the majority of the 6% size listed above is attributed towards the SRET/SRES.

The government is running a 5-month online survey that will analyse the bills with household demographics, heating methods and size of home.

It's intended to provide transparent information on a customers bills so they can assess whether or not they are paying too much and using too much.

The goal appears to be to encourage high energy users to reduce their already inflated usage levels.

Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the information would be used by electricity companies next year and would hopefully help people lower bills.

"Bill benchmarking should motivate consumers with above-average energy consumption to implement energy efficiency improvements," Mr Ferguson said.

Energy Australia

• EnergyAustralia's retail arm has been sold to TRUenergy
• EnergyAustralia's distribution network has changed to AusGrid
• AusGrid site, EnergyAustralia FAQ's

Integral Energy

• Integral Energy's retail arm has been sold to Origin Energy
• Integral Energy's distribution network has changed to Endeavour Energy
• Endeavour Energy site, Integral Energy FAQ's

Country Energy

• Country Energy's retail arm has been sold to Origin Energy
• Country Energy's distribution network has changed to Essential Energy
• Essential Energy site, Country Energy FAQ's

What does it mean for customers?

In practical terms nothing changes.  In terms of the physical network, the old distribution networks will be slowly rebranded, and customers will see different brands in the streets.  In terms of retail, whilst billing and supply does not change, the three incumbent retailers are no longer owned by the government.  Meaning customers are more and more likely to shop around, as loyalty will no longer be front of mind.

AGL are offering a customer with a $1000 bill per year the opportunity to save over $300 in a 3 year period.

For customers with a larger bill of $2000 or more, AGL are offering a clear 10% saving, so customers will receieve $200 off every $2000 they spend.

The new deals mark a significant change in competition in the New South Wales market, and has come about since the sale of the NSW Governments retail assets to Origin Energy and TRUenergy on 1 March.

The Parliament was set-up in an effort to allow the people of New South Wales to have a voice and to contribute towards the success of the state.

Ideas around increased public transport for late night pub goers and improving the decision making process around organ donors were passed unanimously by the elected Parliament for the day

Electricity prices were debated, with Make It Cheaper providing a objective perspective, on the reasons for rising electricity prices, fuel poverty, and whether nuclear power presented a viable generation source for the state.

The goal appears to have a fixed price put on Carbon from July next year, and then aim to have a transition to a wider reaching Emissions Trading Scheme.

Gillard stated: "I'm determined to price carbon....the time is right and the time is now.''

"I do not believe Australia needs to lead the world on climate change, but I also do not think we can afford to be left behind,'' she said.

The carbon price will apply to the energy sector, transport, industrial emissions and waste and it will not hit the agricultural sector.

Energy customers now have almost cast iron confirmation that their costs will increase year on year and the momentum rolls forward toward and Emissions Trading Scheme.

For a typical household spending $500 a quarter, this means an annual saving of $140 is now available.

More often than not, special discounts have only been made available to customers in the Energy Australia region.  But the new products have been made available across the entire state.  So customers in country New South Wales stand to make a big win, with a big saving.

Currently AGL and Red Energy are the only retailers stamping their mark on the sector with the new 7% discount.

This will ensure Queenslanders see almost a 20 per cent price increase in the space of 12 months.

Around half of the proposed increase is down to increasing costs in the federal governments renewable energy scheme, as retailers targets meet renewable goals are slowly increasing year on year.

Business can currently save up to 20% in Queensland by switch electricity retailers, whilst homeowners can achieve a 10% price cut.

Businesses now have the ability to sign-up to electricity prices with a guarantee that they will not change before 1st July 2012.

This can be achieved without any contractual obligation, meaning that the customer is free to shop around as and when prices change at the end of the Price Freeze period.

All retailers in Victoria increased their electricity prices throughout January and early-February.  The aftermath of this means that a lot of customers are looking to swap electricity retailers.  With further price increases predicted in July 2011 and January 2011, any guarantee of price is an extremely attractive proposition.

The cost cutting measure is a result of diverting alternative funds to subsidise the bloated solar rebate scheme.  The solar scheme itself will cost $1.5 billion over the coming years, and Keneally is promising not to allow these costs to be bourne directly by consumers on their electricity bills.

In reality, Keneally is not actually cutting customer bills, but preventing excessive costs being added to customer bills from what some consider to be a poorly conceived solar rebate scheme.

Coal costs have hit a 12 month high, part due to shipping issues and part due to difficulot production conditions.  The availability of coal is having a knock on affect to the cost of producing and generating electricity.  Electricity generation both in Queensland and throughout Australia is primarily driven by coal fired power stations.

Short term, the only customers that will be affected by this is likely to be Commercial and  Corporate customers who are due to come out of contract in the next 6-8 weeks.  It means that any renewal price they are negotiating is likely to be significantly above last years market rate.

The recommendation for customers likely to be affected by this price uncertainty is to negotiate short term contracts, to tide their supplies over for the next 3-6 months.

For all small business and residential customers, there will be no short term pricing impacts.  However, for Queenslanders expecting a 5-6% increase in July this year, there could well be Government regulated revisions to this, to account for increased generation costs which the State will see over coming months.  Not to mention the vast costs required to further invest in the network infrastructure.

Aside from the introduction of the new Paid Parental leave scheme, the most significant change is the change to consumer law.  We now have a brand new single, national consumer law: the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

The key has been to create One Law, which is Easy to Understand, can be Better Enforced, setting out Clear Obligations for businesses.

The main changes being implemented in the ACL are:

• a single set of definitions and interpretative provisions
• a new national law on unfair contract terms
• a single set of provisions about unfair practices and fair trading
• new national consumer guarantees provisions
• a new national regime for unsolicited consumer agreements
• simple, national rules for lay-by agreements
• a new national product safety legislative regime
• new national provisions on information standards, which apply to services as well as goods

Up to the end of 2010, door knockers preyed on the 6pm to 8pm dinner time shift, where pressure selling was at it's best.

The door has now been slammed firmly shut by the new Australian Consumer Law, which wraps up a number of existing Acts and provision, to provide more robust protection to consumers.

What it means now is that from the 1st January 2011, no-one is allowed to door knock (unsolicited - i.e. without an appointment) after 6pm, Monday through to Friday, or after 5pm on Saturdays.  Sundays and Public Holidays are a total 'no no'.  The earliest anyone can attempt to 'ring your bell' is 9am!

This will reflect a massive change now for the majority working population, who dreaded coming home from a hard day at work to be hammered by the sales pitch of an electricity, telecoms, insurance sales person.

Those industries are still able to telemarket, unsolicited, but their is the provision of the Do Not Call Register which very easily allows home owners to have their number taken off a calling list.

Heat Shield provides customers with an additional 5% discount on their peak rates once they use in excess of 500 kWh (kiloWatt hours) in any given month.

Whilst  a large number of Victorian energy retailers are hiking up their prices, Click Energy is seeking to provide further reductions to a customers bill.

The new 5% discount will make Click Energy's base price amongst the most competitive in the market place.  Once bundled with the existing 7% pay on time discount available from Click Energy, customer be able to ensure their energy bills are even cheaper.

Call MakeItCheaper.com.au today to compare all prices, and find out how cheaper Click Energy could be for you.

The three major incumbents in Victoria, Origin Energy, TRUenergy and AGL have all announced hikes for their standard customers.

The vast majority of other retailers, typically with smaller customer bases are expect to follow through the course of January.

A typical home owner could see an additional $160 added to their annual bill.

Incumbent Price Changes Schedule

• Origin Energy - Price Rise 1st Jan 2011
• TRUenergy - Price Rise 23rd Jan 2011
• AGL - Price Rise 1st Jan 2011

The electricity price increases vary massively by regions, across Victoria.

Price Increase Summary

• Citipower (Central Melbourne) = lowest price increases, 2-5% increase (AV 3% Increase)
• Powercor (raw a straight line down the centre of Vic, and it's everything to the west i.e. Shep, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong etc) = 6-8% increase (AV 7% Increase)
• SP Ausnet (raw a straight line down the centre of Vic, and it's everything to the east) = hardest hit, 8-17% increase (AV 12% Increase)
• Jemena (Eastern Metro Melbourne) = 10-14% increase (AV 12% Increase)
• United (Western Metro Melbourne down to Mornington) = 9-11% increase (AV 10% Increase)

Competitive Deals

Fortunately, new retailers are constantly looking to acquire new customers with aggressive deals, and existing retailers are looking to retain customers.  The key is to shop around, compare prices, and negotiate a better deal.

At the same time, NSW customers are facing proposed 15% price increase in 2011.

The general consensus appears to be that Origin Energy and TRUenergy are picking up a bargain, with the proposed value of $5bn, three times less than the $15bn the NSW government was expecting.

The key to this sale is competition.  NSW competition has been largely ineffective up to the last 6 months following the price increase in July 2010.  The government need to ensure that this sale provides some serious economies of scale and allows some of the underlying supply costs to be driven down.

We want to see more retailers, some smaller, come into the NSW market and start competing for both home owners and businesses.

There's currently between 5-10% saving available to NSW customers, and we strongly advise customers who have been hurt by price increases this year to take action and switch to a cheaper retailer.

Whilst this sale is going through, this leaves the door open  for retailers like AGL, Red Energy, Australian Power & Gas who want to steal a march on Origin and TRU and start eating into their customer bases.

With a 10% hike already passed throuygh this year (2010) and a further 15% increase expected in 2011, Sydney home owners could be stung twice.

Not only will they see increases at home on their electricity costs, they could also see councils recovering the higher electricity costs by imposing higher taxes and rates.

It's critical that both home owners and local councils taking the simple step of shopping around, hunting down a cheaper deal.  The two key areas to focus on are:

- Competitive energy rates

- Favourable contractual terms

The cheapest price is not always the best.  With lots of suppliers looking to lock customers in for a number of years, including hefty penalties to exit the contract, it's important that all customers, large or small, look to put in place the most competitive commercial terms.

Whilst some councils, like Randwick, have looked to optimise the costs they're outlaying, other like Botany, have been left with significantly higher electricity costs.

On July 1, Sydney saw electricity costs rise by 10% across the board.  Customers on large 'commercial' contracts will have seen increases only against their network costs, but as contracts come to an end, all councils will be required to negotiate new contracts with electricity suppliers.

Councils often have a whole heap of red tape, which can prevent them from negotiating competitive electricity contracts.

In these cases it's critical that Sydney councils become far more progressive, starting negotiating with retailers, and potentially engage a credible, independent broker to support their negotiation and recontracting process.

At the end of the day, it's the general public that ends up footing the bill through higher taxes if councils fail to act responsibly, and negotiate the best deal they possibly can.

CitiPower - 2011: -1.6%   2012-15: 2.9%    
Powercor - 2011: 1.1%    2012-15: 2.5%    
Jemena - 2011: 3.1%    2012-15: 2.3%    
SP Ausnet - 2011: 5.1%    2012-15: 2.9%    
United - 2011:1.2%     2012-15: 2.6%    
Average - 2011: 1.8%    2012-15: 2.6%

NB: Based on % change per year

CitiPower- 2011: -$30.80    2012-15: $21.60
Powercor- 2011: $0.50        2012-15: $16.20
Jemena- 2011: $23.90     2012-15: $14.40
SP Ausnet - 2011: $48.00     2012-15: $21.60
United- 2011: $1.80       2012-15: $18.00
Average - 2011: $8.68       2012-15: $18.36

NB: Based on averafe $ change per year between 2012 & 2015

Tim Wolfenden, Director at MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "It's a welcome sign that the AER is standing up for customers and looking to reduce the impact of future price increases.  They've taken the sting out of the tail of the increases proposed by Victoria's network operators to the tune of around 40%.  
The only concern is whether the holding back of these increases is merely delaying the inevitable - if investment is lower over the next 5 years, then we're just as likely to see more costs being hammered onto customers bills between 2015 and 2020.

With the Victorian electricity market fully deregulated, retailers are capable of passing through all or none of these increases - and some will potentially use these rises as an excuse to pass through an even higher amount.

Choice is key, and it's down to the customer to make this choice.  Switch retailers, and move to a business who's going to charge you less for what you consume."

Two and A Half Lions, the Division 2 league leaders of the 5-a-side Futsal competition down in the The Rocks have struck an exclusive sponsorship deal with Make It Cheaper, one of Australia's leading business and home price comparison and switching services for electricity and gas.

With only two games to go, both are a must win for Two and A Half Lions, should they want to become Division 2 Champions.

Two and A Half Lions are (from Left to Right): Mark Lampson, Liam Tunney, Barry Murphy, Andy Simon, Jon Carson, Eamonn Cleary, and Tim Wolfenden. Shirts sourced and provided by Neal Connelly of CNC Promotional Products.

The latest figures from electricity and gas price comparison site www.makeitcheaper.com.au reveal that Victorian households will be hit hard as electricity price hikes send thousands into fuel poverty.

• In 2009 an estimated 158,000 households suffered Fuel Poverty across Victoria

• This has since risen by approximately 53,000 to 211,000 in 2010 - equivalent to the population of the Northern Territory

• We anticipate a further 2,900 households will be added for each 1% increase in electricity costs

The latest figures from electricity and gas price comparison site www.makeitcheaper.com.au reveal that Victorian households will be hit hard as electricity price hikes send thousands into fuel poverty.

"Fuel Poverty is when the cost of your energy bills is more than 10% of a household's income," explains Tim Wolfenden, electricity expert and CEO of Make It Cheaper.

"These figures clearly show the social implications of these severe price increases.  Households just won't be able to pay," he says.

"Melbourne's coldest winter in a decade, mortgage pressure plus energy price rises of up to 20% this year have pushed thousands of households into Fuel Poverty across the state. Despite switching off fuel-hungry devices, there's no doubt that families are going to struggle," warned Wolfenden. "Older people may shiver through cold nights or swelter through the heat of summer for fear of being hit with an unmanageable bill at the end of the month," he added.

Make It Cheaper arrived at the startling statistics by identifying the average Victorian household income and comparing that with the average household electricity bill.

"There's no doubt that fuel prices will continue to rise.  All Victorians will be slugged with increasing fuel bills over the next few years, particularly if carbon tax is introduced - and unfortunately the vulnerable households will be hit hardest," said Wolfenden.

However, there are other options for reducing the family fuel bill.

"A household bill could be slashed by up to 15% by finding a better deal and switching to a new supplier," Wolfenden advised.  "As competition increases across Victoria families can make significant savings by just switching their energy supplier.  Even if they think they are locked into contracts, the savings often outweigh the penalties," he explained.

Send to electricity is the rising price of insurances a business owner requires to legally operate.

Tasmanian businesses are getting a bit of a rough deal, as the vast majority of the market has yet to be opened up to competition.

This leaves only commercial or corporate electricity users with the chance to save on their power bills by switching retailer.

Our recommendation is consistently for all business to implement energy efficiency measures where they can, in an effort to reduce their overall energy costs.

This is the sort of campaign the State needs.  We're seeing massive price increases in New South Wales and customers are being hit where it hurts the most, in their wallets.

There's been a huge surge in consumer awareness over the past 6 weeks as power bills have landed on customers door mats, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are 3 million homes and businesses in New South Wales who could all save money by simply switching to a cheaper retailer.

The urge is for everyone to pull out their electricity bills and take action now!

The Victorian market has been successfully operating without price controls for a number of years now, with the price increases that customers have seen in recent years really being driven by the need to provide further investment back into the infrastructure and electricity networks.

The proposal would mean that New South Wales (NSW) could see price controls lifted by June 2012, Queensland by June 2013 and Tasmamia by 2014.

Some consumer groups remain concerned that at times increased competition, does not bring all the benefits which are anticipated.

Choice director of campaigns Christopher Zinn commented "But the experience of competition hasn't delivered all consumers the best outcomes, and that's because it's hard for people to compare what's cheapest - they can be switched by door-knockers, the churn may not always be in their interest."

Tim Wolfenden, Director of MakeItCheaper.com.au says: "We welcome anything that will increase competition and reduce the price that customers pay for electricity and gas.

The government and regulator need to recognise that misselling can and will occur via the door-knocking industry, but that only really means that they need to be better regulated.  Customers themselves need to become better educated when it comes to door-knockers, and be comfortable saying 'No' to them.

At the moment, price controls are really stifling retail competition in New South Wales.  The sell-off of the three incumbent retailers by the government later this year will help immensely, as will the careful removal of the existing price controls."

There is a growing amount of competition between retailers in Queensland, and now more than ever, we've started to see retailers coming to the market with some interesting deals.

It's important that businesses take action NOW.  When you switch retailers, you typically follow your current meter read and billing cycle, which means if your next meter read and bill are now due until October, your switch to a new cheaper retailer will not happen until then."

Our advice is simple, Switch and Save!

• New South Wales: 2016/17
• Victoria: 2015/16
• South Australia: 2015/16
• Queensland: 2013/14

It's unlikely that any state will physically see blackouts - but with potential shortfalls on the cards, large users could see their usage capped (as per their supply contracts).  What's clear is that decisive action is needed to ensure continual investment made to bolster security of supply.

The survey provides each of those retailers with a '5 Star' Overall Rating for Most Satisfied customers across those states.

In New South Wales Country Energy have also been awarded '5 Stars' for Customers being most satisfied with their Price, the winners of the Overall Rating in the remaining States were also awarded '5 Stars' for Customers being satisfied with their Price.

Tim Wolfenden, Director at Make It Cheaper comments: "This survey is nowhere near comprehensive.  The State by State snapshot ignores numerous retailers, not least Australian Power and Gas, Simply Energy, Powerdirect, QEnergy, Click Energy, ActewAGL, Neighbourhood Energy and Momentum Energy.

"The survey also fails to properly assess the 'Price' position of these retailer.  In New South Wales for example, the survey suggests that Country Energy customers have a high price satisfaction, but their incumbent customers have seen a 13% electricity price increase in the past two month, the highest across all three incumbent retailer regions in New South Wales.

"When it comes to price, the energy sector is not a one size fits all market place.  A customers energy bill needs to be properly assessed with advice provided on the best supplier for them, based on their town, region, State, usage profile, meter type and tariff classification.

"We support any information that will assist customers to make properly informed, well educated decision in this market place.  Unfortunately the Canstar Blue survey falls well short of the mark."

Summary of the Overall Customers Satisfaction Results are below - for a thorough review of your energy bills, contact Make It Cheaper to make an informed decision.

Overall Customers Satisfaction Results

New South Wales: AGL Energy 4 Stars, Country Energy 5 Stars, Energy Australia 4 Stars, Integral Energy 4 Stare, Origin Energy 3 Stars.

Queensland: AGL Energy 2 Stars, Ergon Energy 4 Stars, Integral Energy 5 Stars, Origin Energy 4 Stars.

South Australia: AGL Energy 3 Stars, Origin Energy 4 Stars, TRU Energy 5 Stars

Victoria: AGL Energy 3 Stars, Lumo Energy 5 Stars, Origin Energy 3 Stars, Red Energy 5 Stars, TRU Energy 4 Stars.

Tim Wolfenden, Director at MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "For every door to door salesman who is 'found out', there's going to be another 5 or 10 practicing similar poor selling techniques.  It's just that a lot of customers don't notice when things change."

"Customers cannot do anything about unscrupulous salespeople forging their signatures and switching them to an alternative retailer.  But, customers need to be vigilant, and always ensure they ask door to door salespeople for ID, and never invite them into their home.  

Most importantly, never sign or agree to anything on the door.  Take the information, and then do your own research or call and independent service, like Make It Cheaper, who can provide impartial advice."

Main issues with door to door sales people:

-    Under quoting of prices
-    Not explaining contractual terms

Remember to ask for:

-    Product Information Statement (PIS)
-    Contract length

No 1 Rule: Don't feel pressured into signing any agreement on the door - a credible door to door agent will happily provide you with the information and pay you another visit to have the deal signed

Choi+Shine said: "Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape."

In a world where electricity is seen to be pretty dull, at least some organisations are being inventive and finding ways to enhance the landscape and electricity.

1. Facilitate the installation of new renewable energy generators across Australia
2. Encourage consumer demand for renewable energy.
3. Provide consumer choice for, and increase confidence in credible renewable energy products.
4. Promote the renewable energy industry through the rigorous accreditation of generators.
5. Increase consumer awareness of the benefits of renewable energy.
6. Increase the sustainability of Australia's electricity supply.

The sector doing the most in terms of supporting the GreenPower initiative is the 'electricity, gas and waste services' sector, with 8% of businesses having signed up.  

One of the worst sectors for supporting GreenPower is the mining industry.  With electricity spend in excess of $1billion a year, the governments suggests that only 15 businesses operating in that sector have signed up for GreenPower.

Tim Wolfenden, Director at Make It Cheaper comments: "Buying 'green' or renewable energy produces a bit of a feel good factor for many people, but it's pretty clear that businesses are not engaged.

The fact of the matter is that businesses have sufficiently high costs in terms of their electricity bills without having to load them with more costs and additional subsidy.

The bottom line is that the energy industry is investing in new renewable generation to hit the mandatory target put down by the government - we are all paying for this as part of the outcome of paying our energy bills, households or businesses.

For those businesses who want that additional 'green stamp' to their business, then we would recommend implementing energy efficiency measures as a means of becoming greener.  Then they should consider the benefits that the 'GreenPower' scheme can offer them."

Tim Wolfenden, Director at MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Online and ecommerce can seem a world away for many small business owners, who just don't have the time to figure out what it means or the benefits it could provide to their business.

Over the past 6-months we have seen a significant increase in businesses coming to us via our own website, looking for information and wanting simple advice on how they can reduce costs in their business.

This is clearly a good first step, hopefully in time they will grow the confidence to improve their own online presence, and maybe even start to acquire customers online."

The tool is ultimately pretty blunt, and the industry will be absolving itself from the real challenge which is customer education.

The industry need to help customers understand how to cut their overall energy usage by becoming more efficient in how they use electricity both at home and in business, and also show them ways to cut the $ amount they pay by switching from the more expensive energy retailers to cheaper ones.  Having customers sign 'credit management' contracts could cause real issues in customers entering into agreements that they absolutely no understanding of.

Search Industry Expert Brendan Gillen of Exstatic Media comments: "Search is not hard to get right, but it can be very easy to get wrong. whilst half of the UK SME's are failing to tailor their sites for search engines like Google, we believe that a far larger proportion of Australian SME's are getting it plain wrong - and it's costing them valuable customers."

Of all the businesses surveyed, over 70% did not have any basic website analytics, such as Google Analytics, to help track the number of visitors and where the visitors come from.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Getting your website right is absolutely critical - for small local businesses it breaks down barriers, and allows them to compete in a more aggressive and effective way.  SME's need to ensure they can be found be customers in their immediate viscinity as well as the greater surrounding area.  Working with a credible search agency is a key way to do this."

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make It Cheaper comments: "This is a pretty hefty fine, but goes nowhere towards creating a well regulated competitive telecoms market.

Whilst justice has clearly been served, the question will remain as to how disadvantaged business and residential customers have become by Telstra's actions.

The regulator needs to ensure that these types of practices no longer happen and will never happen again."

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "The survey shows just how much the small business owner is being tested.  Survival often comes down to the business owner having to make sacrifices, and delaying exit from the business is a significant sacrifice.

It makes good sense that business owners are looking to cut overheads to improve their bottom line, and prevent the need for them to pass on cost increases to their customers."

Google Tags allows a business to place 'yellow markers' which appear on Google Maps business listings.  When 'rolled over' (with a mouse), it can highlight coupons, photos or other advertiser content.

Rather than charging customers on a 'per click' basis - as ad-words does (often found to be unsuccessful by small businesses who target the very local market) - it simply charges a fixed fee of $25 (USD) per month.

So for the Mum and Dad Milk Bar looking to gain some cheap online presence, this is not a bad option, at an outlay of only $300 (USD) a year.  At least the risk of gaining a lot of irrelevant 'clicks' is removed.

Business customers can have a go at this for FREE until the 23rd July (Friday) with an exclusive FREE trial of Google Tags being offered by Google.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The policy is likely to be seen as a short term compromise position before the government and opposition lock horns again over a wider reaching climate policy and potential emissions trading scheme, effectively taxing the use of 'dirty' electricity.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "This appears to be the case of slow and simple.  The journey towards using more renewable and environmentally friendly electricity methods was always going to be fraught one.

The concern short term is obviously going to be, what will these measures mean in terms of electricity price increases?

We heard earlier this year that consumer could expect electricity price rises of 60% over the coming years, due to the introduction of the emissions trading scheme.  This was then revised down, when the emissions trading scheme was put 'on ice'.

Now it seems that some sort of additional costs on a customers electricity bill may be back on the table.  The devil is going to be in the detail."

For a business or home owner, there's never been a better time to shop around, and find a cheaper energy deal.

71% of Australian consumers say they feel companies haven't increased their focus on service or are paying less attention to it. And only 53% of Australians feel that  customer service has become more important.

That all said Australians only want to spend 8% more for excellent service, higher than UK consumer who are willing to pay 7% more for excellent service but lower than Japanese customers who are willing to pay 10% more.

The survey also highlights that customers expect something in return when things go pear shaped.  Half of consumers (52%) expect something in return after a poor customer service experience, beyond resolving the problem, whilst most consumers (70%) want an apology or some form of reimbursement.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Whilst price is 'King', service always comes a close run second, and it's fascinating to see that Australian consumer are just not happy about the level of service they're receiving.

This does present a real opportunity for the small and medium sized businesses, who may not have the buying power to compete aggressively on price to some of the big boys, but are far more capable of delivering top draw excellent service.

Service can become a real differentiator for every small business!"

Earlier in 2010 Simply Energy, a small energy retailer operating in Victoria and South Australia, demonstrated how service can become a fantastic differentiator by winning the SMILES (Smart Investor League of Exceptional Service) award as the leading utilities service provider, with a 67.2 per cent overall satisfaction rating.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Lumo Energy is presenting itself as a fresh alternative to some of the large incumbent energy players we have in Australia.

The previous entities of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia Electricity always came across as a little bit staid - however, we should not underestimate the power that regional business names have.

A significant number of Aussie's will have been attracted to the regional focus that each of the previous businesses had, and whilst this rebrand makes good marketing sense, it may leaves a number of existing customers disillusioned."

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "These price increases should come as no surprise, nor should it be surprising that some of these increases are 'double-digit'.  The key of course is for customers to understand what these changes mean for them personally.

We would advise any AGL or Powerdirect customer who are now being informed of these increases to check their rates against other retailers in the market, and ensure that they are still competitive.  Where they are not, then we always advise switching to a cheaper retailer.

Over the course of the past 6-months, we've seen a number of Powerdirect customers on very competitive rates.  The concern is that if these rates are now going up, these customers could see considerable increases.  They really need to keep an eye of their next bill, as they could be impacted by some significantly higher rates."

• Country Energy: 13%
• EnergyAustralia: 10%
• Integral Energy: 7%

With the average hike being 10%, it means that a typical small business could see a clear $500-1000 added to their energy bill over the course of the next 12 months.

What's worse, in 12 months time the average increase is anticipated to be 15%, then in 2012 25%.

Businesses and homeowners need to start planning now on how best they can afford these sorts of bill sizes.

Very simply, it means that for every $100 a Queensland business was spending on electricity, it's now going to cost them $113.

The businesses to be hardest hit are those within the Energex region in South East Queensland.  There are approximately 50,000 businesses operating from commercial premises with electricity bills now as high as $25,000 a year.  Because these businesses are still on regulated rates, they have not benefited from competition, which has now been in place for 3 years.

Very simply, a business now experiencing the $113 price, could reduce that bill down to $90, just by switching to a new cheaper retailer.  So for businesses with a bill of $25,000, that comes out at a $5,000 or 20% saving.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make It Cheaper comments: "Times are getting tough for businesses.  Electricity cost have gone up across nearly all states today, but Queensland businesses are amongst the hardest hit.

Whilst businesses believe in being loyal to their service providers, this is one clear cut case where loyalty just does not pay.

It's absolutely essential that Queensland businesses understand the effect that these price hikes will have on their business, and take measures to do something about it.

Switching supplier is about the easiest and most cost effective thing a business can do.  Nothing changes apart from the name on the top of the bill, and the price businesses pay.  And with a clear 20% saving on the table, this is simply a good business decision"

• Origin Energy Limited
• AGL Energy Limited
• ERM Power Pty Ltd
• Shenhua Group Corporation Limited
• China Huaneng Group Corporation
• GdF Suez SA
• TRUEnergy Australia Pty Ltd
• China Light and Power Company

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Business customers are getting more and more used to seeing their bills go, so this change by TRU Energy will comes as no surprise.

It's essential that customers stay on top of these movements, and look to find savings to offset these increases by switching to a cheaper deal.

We would certainly recommend that existing TRU Energy customers in the SP Ausnet region check to see how much they can save by switching, especially if they've seen a hike of nearly 10%."

Check to see which Postcodes SP Ausnet covers.

With a brand refresh, depicting the simplicity and ease of switching electricity, Click Energy is looking to extend itself into an as yet, 'untapped' marketplace.

Click Energy comes to market with a simple proposition, that's to receive all your bills by email and pay your bills within 7 days - for that, Click Energy will provide a flat 7% discount across all costs.  Simple!

In fact, for a short time only, Click Energy are offering a $50 sign-up rebate for all new customers that join.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au comments: "Click Energy's proposition provides a refreshing change to some of the bigger players in the Australian marketplace.  They show that competition works, and for customers who want to support the smaller business, Click Energy makes the perfect choice.

Make It Cheaper has seen plenty of business and residential customers make the change and move to Click Energy.  The transfer process is quick, simple and hassle free - the best part, the electricity is cheaper!

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com.au adds: "There's no free dinner in life.  Mobile and broadband infrastrcuture costs money, data and calls costs money, the physical phone hardware and modems costs money - this stuff just isn't free.

It's very easy to be lured in to believing you're getting something for free, or you can use as much of it as you like without any comeback.

We always recommend to read the small print, or speak to an independent service who has read the small print on your behalf.  Bottom line is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make It Cheaper comments: "The dongle itself may go up in price, but it seems that the data cost will stay the same.

This is great news for local small businesses who wil be struggling both with poor broadband speeds, but also with an inability to roam around the local regions with mobile broadband.

This network upgrade is likely to bring some huge benefits to the local business community."

The price increase is a combination of increased energy costs, the need to investment in the energy network and an increase to the telemarketing costs that retailer incur to promote their services to new and existing customers.

This price increase is the fourth consecutive annual increase that customers have seen.  Bills have now risen over 50% in just 4 years.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of MakeItCheaper.com, says: "Customers will be left scratching their heads, questioning the validity of this price increases.  Suggesting that some of these rises are down to increased telemarketing costs will leave many customers perplexed.

Suppliers really need to trim down their marketing expenses, and start to use for efficient and effective methods to tell customers about their services.

We would agree that investment is crucial, but customers need to be given a fair go, and be passed on energy increases which are reasonable.

This price hike is going to be painful for the average homeowner, but it could really hammer small businesses already struggling to makes ends meet."

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make It Cheaper comments: "Smart Meters hold some real value, and it's quite clear that that money saving benefit will far out weigh the cost, it's just that the Australian government is doing a poor job at getting this message across to the end user.

What the energy industry needs to focus on is the efficient and effective roll-out of smart meters, then plug the data in to complimenary technologies such as Google's Powermeter."

If this is done properly, businesses really stand to save an awful lot of money"

This week and for some time now Origin Energy's Managing Director Grant King has been presenting a vociferous view on what the failure of placing a price on carbon will achieve for the Australian energy industry.

Origin Energy places the simple premise that without a carbon price in place (essentially a tax) that coal will remain the most economically viable fuel to generate electricity with - and presently also the dirtiest.

The observation is that all other generation methods, including gas, become cost prohibitive when compared to coal.  What this means is that for the short and medium term, the Australian energy industry will struggle to invest in new generation projects away from new coal fired power stations.

To put the development of new gas fired, nuclear or renewable generation methods back on the table, a carbon price of around $20-40 per tonne needs to be put in place.

Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make It Cheaper: "Where customers are concerned, this issue is immensely confusing.  They are simply being told that this is a tax, it will increase the cost of consumer goods and electricity, and consumers see taxes as being bad.

On the flip side, without clear direction from the government, Australia will remain heavily dependent on coal in the short and medium term.  So whilst the rest of the world moves ahead with exploring new generation methods, Australia will be left behind.

Equally, as demand for coal within the export market continues to grow, it will have an undoubted impact on the price of coal within Australia, driving it upwards."

There are two choices:

1) Take the hit of increased electricity costs over the next 15 years by putting in place carbon pricing, and therefore create sustainability of supply, and more certainty in pricing, or

2) Keep the status quo, don't invest, and be faced with an enormous bill in 15-20 years time, a bill that future generations will have to foot

Wolfenden comments: "This is an issue that has been poorly explained to the Australian consumer, over simplified by the opposition, and now there's a great big stop sign in-front of investors."

Businesses need clarity, both in terms of investment, put also in terms of how their cost base will change, and the impact it will have on their bottom line. At the moment there's just too much uncertainty."

Make It Cheaper says: "It's extremely hard to pick how much prices could rise by, but sure as night follows day, the one thing we can pick is that energy costs will rise this year and next.  In fact for the foreseeable future.

Business owners have to wake up and understand that they can slash their costs by shopping around, and forcing suppliers to offer more competitive prices.  Switch and save is the motto, any money back in you bank is better off there than the energy suppliers."

Business Mobile Broadband - BYO (12 month plans)

PLAN	1GB BMB BYO	2GB BMB BYO	5GB BMB BYO	8GB BMB BYO
MONTHLY ACCESS FEE	$24.99	$34.99	$49.99	$79.99
INCLUDED MONTHLY DATA	1GB	2GB	5GB	8GB
CONTRACT LENGTH	12 months
REBATE* OFFER 1	NA	$100	$150	$200
BUNDLE REBATE* OFFER 2	NA	$150	$225	$300

Rebate* Offer 1: Purchase an eligible Business Mobile Broadband BYO plans in the table below
Rebate* Offer 2: Bundle an eligible Business Mobile Broadband BYO plan with an eligible^# mobile phone plan

Source: Optus

In 2009 26 per cent of Victorian electricity and gas customers chose to switch to another retailer in 2009, whilst 12.2 per cent made the change in South Australia,  11.5 per cent in Queensland, and a meagre 9.2 per cent in New South Wales.

Make It Cheaper says: "The devil is in the detail.  Whilst Victoria is doing well in terms of actual customers switching, the key is whether or not they got the best deal available to them when they switched.  The vast majority of these customer will have switched via an energy suppliers door-to-door sales person, or telesales rep.  Given these guys only put one offer on the table, the customer is blind to whether or not there are better deals in the market place.

Compare this to the UK where around 1 million businesses and home owners switch via comparison services every year, those customers can be assured that they are getting the best deal for them, through and independent service.

Victoria has the most competitive energy market in Australia - but the question we need to ask ourselves is 'Are customers better off?'

It's quite clear that the government needs to realise that it's not just about switching, it's more important that the customer is aware they have choice and how to go about getting the best deal."

• Investment allowances
• Staged tax cuts
• Cuts in red tape
• Shortened assets depreciation

Make It Cheaper says: "Tax is in a word 'Painful'.  Anything that goes towards making managing tax for a small business easier and cheaper will be welcomed by many."

Full details weill be revealed on the afternoon of Monday 3rd May.

Make It Cheaper says: "The delay will be welcomed by both small businesses and homeowners.  The issues is that there are still price increases on the way across all states, and once the government has refined it's ETS plans there will be further increase from 2013 onwards.

The key is for businesses to get the heads round what this means for the long term, and start planning on ways to reduce their energy usage and become more energy efficient"

Make It Cheaper offers a free energy bill comparison and switching service, helping to ensure businesses of any size pay less for their energy.

• Cheaper prices
• More accurate billing
• Improve energy efficiency

All easy to say, slightly harder to deliver to customers who are merely worried about affording their energy bills.

Make It Cheaper says: "The complexity of mobile phone and telecoms bills in general is legendary, and is not a problem solely confined to Australia.  However, we find through analysing and understanding mobile phone bills here in Australia, they are significantly more complex and confusing than say the UK.

It's no wonder complaints are on the up, with increased competition for business and residential customers from the likes of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, not to mentioned to scores of mobile contract resellers"

If you have exprienced issues with your mobile or telecoms provider and wish to raise a complaint, contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO): 1800 062 058 or www.tio.com.au

Make It Cheaper says: "These proposed gas price changes have some real highs and lows.  AGL business customer have struck some luck, whilst Country Energy residential customers have caught the sharp end of these rises.

This is really going to make it difficult for customers to truly understand the impact of these price increases."

As ever, we recommend thinking about becoming more efficient and economical the gas you use.  And of course shopping around to see if there are cheaper gas deals out there - remembering that some bundle dual fuel deals through one supplier may not be as good as two seperate suppliers for you gas and electricity."

Jackgreen was wound up having amassed significant debts to the government-owned energy retailer and operator Integral Energy.

Jackgreen's administrators, PKF, are now exploring the possibilities of taking legal action against Integral, for its part in allowing Jackgreen to hit the wall.

The collapse of Jackgreen highlights the difficulties that smaller retailers have in competing against the large players in the industry.

Mr King cites the governments' indecision around its carbon trading policy as a key factor in forcing these prices up.  Without a clear mandate, investment is only occurring in the safest of generation projects.

The prediction identifies the build of new renewable generation, increases in transmission and distribution costs, and the re-pricing of Australian fuel prices to international levels.

Essentially, the higher cost involved in producing electricity for renewable sources has not been factored in to suppliers pricing models, the distribution system is already stressed, and there's a need to upgrade the countries facilities, and finally the fact that internationally there is a growing demand for coal, which will mean the overall price of coal will be forced up.

Make It Cheaper says: "These predictions will come as a real concern for businesses and consumers already struggling to manage the increasing costs of their energy bills.

What's critical is that all consumers must take ownership of their bills, learn how to reduce their energy usage and understand the best ways to shop around for cheaper deals from suppliers who are looking to win them as new customers."

The Age reported that the Energy Minister Peter Bachelor announced an "indefinite moratorium on the rollout of the new technology to every home across the state - because of concerns pensioners and the poor would be hardest hit by higher electricity prices".

The concern is valid.  Smart meters themselves cost money, it costs money to install them and get them working properly and delivering meter read information to the customer energy retailer.  The simple issue is who pays for them? And the current answer seems to be homeowners and businesses.

At this stage, the government and the energy retailer seem unclear on where the benefits really lie.

In the UK, the largest retailer British Gas has recently announced a roll-out of 2 million smart meters to its customer base.  They are estimating that this could save those customers a combined £1 billion over 10 years, which works out as £500 per household over the same period, or£50 per year.

British Gas, working with energy metering firm Landis+Gyr, have the right idea.  The costs of the smart meter is subsidised, but eventually the consumer will pay.  But the critical part is the benefit.

The benefits from a consumer perspective are simple:

1) Lower energy bills

2) Lower energy usage

The benefits from a retailer's perspective are also pretty straightforward:

1) Removal of the cost to read the current set of 'dumb' meters manually

2) Ability to monitor and control energy usage

3) Ability to deliver energy at a price that holds a fairer reflection of the costs incurred to generate and deliver it to the end consumer

The benefits from a government perspective are also very simple:

1) Customers can switch supplier without any hassle - currently it takes anywhere from one week to 14 weeks, this is only due to the new retailer waiting for the next meter read.  With smart meters, you can sign a new deal today and switch today (assuming the consumer waives their right to a cool off period).  The efficiency would be immense.

2) Creates accountability in terms of a) energy usage - driving it down (monitored on a business by business, household by household basis) encouraging consumers to become more efficient in their usage, and b) in terms of fairer pricing structures from suppliers.

This doesn't feel like a 'maybe' decision, it feels like a 'must', but the government and retailers must get better at educating the consumer of the real benefits.

Make It Cheaper says: "Fuel poverty, which is really what this amounts to for many people, should not be happening in this day in age.

For many families and pensioners, these price hikes could represent a choice between heating and eating.  Which clearly cannot be acceptable to either the state or federal governments.

There are likely to be legitimate reasons for price increases, but thos in need, who are unable to afford their energy bills come winter need to be looked after by the government

Here at Make It Cheaper, we are more focussed on supporting and providing advice to businesses who are also likely to be struggling with their bill sizes.

That said, if homeowners need support and switching advice, we will be only too happy to help."

• $180 per month plan includes all standard voice calls, video calls, MMS and SMS to any Australian mobile or fixed number
• The plan is available for a 12 or 24 month minimum term

Whilst Unlimited calls plans are extremely alluring, Telstra is not the only mobile service provider that offers this type of package.

Equally, 'unlimited' is rarely ever 'unlimited'.  In Telstra's case, the offer is subject to their Fairplay policy - which states that usage over 2500 minutes a month would be deemed excessive.

On the face of it, this make the Telstra deal pretty attractive - a very heavy user could make a typical 3 minute call cost 22 cents (assuming a maximum number of minutes of 2500 in the month) for a single business phone user.

Compare this to their next plan down, worth $160 a month, a typical call will cost 92c.  A significant difference.

Now, compare these costs to Vodafone who offer a $99 'Unlimited' plan, that's a clear difference of $61 a month.  There are a lot of small printed terms, and additional costs on top of this $99, and Telstra would roundly argue that their deal is far more transparent.

But a high cost 'Unlimited' plan is not for everyone, both in terms of cost or even product suitability.

If we compare each suppliers next most expensive plan, assuming that every call lasts 3 minutes to a national number we get the following comparison:

Telstra
Monthly cost: $160
Monthly call cap value: $160
Av 3 min call cost: $0.92
Total calls available within cap: 174 calls

Vodafone
Monthly cost: $79
Monthly call cap value: $550
Av 3 min call cost: $3.05
Total calls available within cap: 180 calls

So whilst the Vodafone individual call cost could be three time that of Telstra, you pay half the price, and get a few more minutes.  If as a business owner your monthly usage exceeds 180 calls, then the Vodafone cost will soon catch-up with Telstra.

The point here is that even a simple comparison is complex.  The answer is do your homework.  Understand how, when and where you use you mobile phone, and then compare some of the leading providers.

The 12 part plan, running over an initial period of 12 months, allows a business owner to:

• Review energy usage and other wasteful by products of doing business
• Put together an Action Plan
• Put the plan into action
• Engage the business's supply chain about sustainable usage
• Market the business off the back of the sustainable changes
• Report back to Grow Me The Money

The scheme is available under two products:

1. Grow Me The Money Basic Toolkit - useful for businesses with staff already focussed on taking action to improve the businesses sustainability
2. Grow Me The Money Total Care Package - for those more time poor business owners who require more of a hand leading through the process

The costs of the service vary, but start at just $39 for VECCI members (Basic Toolkit) and go up to $348 for non-VECCI members taking the Total Care Package.

As part of the above, a service like Make It Cheaper is an excellent addition to the Grow Me The Money proposition.  Whether that's providing a business with help in getting a cheaper deal on their electricity supplies, or even help with picking a new supplier that offers more environmentally friendly services and energy supplies.

Concerningly the ACCC has uncovered some less than reputable bundling practices with telcos bolting on office equipment to the primary telephone contract.  For example, sign a 2 years fixed line phone deal for you office of 10 staff and get a photocopier and fax machine interest free for the same period.

The issues comes when the fixed period ends, the small business is left having to repay the finance deal.  Rather unsurprisingly the typical interest and repayment rate once the two years is up is woefully uncompetitive.

The attraction always comes when something is offered for 'free', and for a lot of people this removes the rationality of any buying decision.

It seems obvious, but there are some simple rules that a business owner should follow to ensure that they don't get stung like this:

• If a core service provider is selling something that doesn't initially appear core (would you buy a steak from a baker?), make sure it definitely is a good service and / or product -ensure you compare to alternative options
• If something is sold as 'free', 'interest free' or just in general seems 'too good to be true', then it probably is
• If you're being sold to by someone over the phone or face to face and the situation is feeling 'high pressured' - take a breather, walk away, say 'no'!

A good salesperson selling a reputable product and service will know it's a tough decision, and will respect your need to have time to thinking about.

A poor salesperson selling a less than great product and service (a bit of an iffy deal) will push, push and push for you to sign the deal.  Be suspicious!

Actually it's 8:30pm every hour in every time zone - so Australia won;t be powering down all at the same time, nor will the world.  It will power down in a staggered approach.

As a small business, you may well be blessed with the luxury of not opening on Saturday, but as Friday draws to a close, that doesn't mean you can't help and lend your support.

Things you can do:

• Turn off your lights and power down you pc's
• Tell your staff (it happens at home as well)
• If you're open tomorrow, tell your customers, make them aware of the 60 min goal at 8:30pm

Find out more on the earthhour.org.au website - it's never too late to lend your support

Make It Cheaper says: "The simple response to this is, business do have a choice.  Whilst the Big 4 banks hold a dominant share of the market, there are still other lenders out there with competitive rates.

We'd recommend jumping online, and using a service such as InfoChoice to hunt down a new more competitive business loan deal.

Until businesses start voting with their feet and switching away from the Big 4, the message just won't get across.  It's down to the business owners to take action."

• Energy Australia $6,456
• Integral Energy $5,280
• Country Energy $7,904

That's just for businesses using 20,000 kWh - typically a small high street retailer.  For customers using 40,000 kWh, such as a butchers, hotel, or dairy farm, the above costs will easily double, with bills ranging from $10,500 to $15,800 - a signifcant difference purely based on supplier and location.

Make It Cheaper says: "Because there are different costs to support the infrastructure and that the networks incur, this creates markedly different prices across metropolital and rural NSW.

The fact of the matter is that most business customers don't care why their bills are increasing, they just care that they are, and will be searching for help and support from the government to find ways to off-set these rising costs.

This is where Make It Cheaper can help.  We offer a comprehensive service, comparing the entire range of suppliers available to business customers in NSW, and we will help those customers switch to cheaper deals"

The recent March Sensis survey shows that SME's remain nervous about consumer spending, but equally say they have fared better than expect in the past quarter.

With interest rates on the rise consumers are being hit with higher mortgage costs, meaning the average 'Cost of Living' is on the rise, and therefore the 'Discretionary spending power' of consumers is on its way down.

Make It Cheaper says: "Interest rate rises mean that small businesses face higher costs to service any debt or outstanding loans.  It equally means that a small business' typical customer may be thinking twice about buying a new product or service from them, as they too will have a higher mortgage bill to fork out for.

It's important for a small business owner to remain focussed, ensure any business debts are paid off quickly, whilst making sure any outstanding creditors are chased, and that they pay up.  Cash is king, and a small business needs that cash flow now more than ever."

It's easy to overlook the simple things; we recommend a business to focus on:

• Consolidating loans
• Decrease debt servicing costs
• Managing the cashflow
• Promoting the business with simple effective marketing

On all of the above, make sure you shop around and compare products and services to ensure you get the best deal that works for you.

The announcement will look to set electricity costs soaring by 7.5% in April with a further 10% just 3-month later in July - gas cost will rise by 7% in the same period.

In real terms, this will add $379 to a typical small businesses annual energy bill, and $215 to a household's energy bill.  For higher energy users, these increases will be significantly more in dollar value.

Make It Cheaper says: "Electricity and gas price rises are never good news.  What makes the situation in WA worse is that business customers have nowhere to go.  Unlike their counterparts across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland who are able to switch to cheaper energy suppliers, those customers in WA do not have a choice and are unable to switch.

The best advice for business customers and homeowners is to look at the ways they can become more energy efficient, and try and cut down on their energy usage."

Price increases are never easy, but cutting down on your energy usage will go some way to reduce the impact of these higher bills"

Make It Cheaper says: "These are excellent resources for any small business to help them from falling victim to these very dodgy scams.  From our perspective, the best advice is, if it smells fishy, then it is, if it looks dodgy then it is, if it looks too good to be true then it is,"

At Make It Cheaper, we offer what appears to be a "too good to be true" save money on your energy bills for FREE.

We're talking to hundreds of small businesses every week, and helping them save money on their energy bills.  Our service is 100% independent and impartial, and entirely credible!

Contact details:
ACCC www.accc.gov.au or 1300 302 502
SCAMwatch www.scamwatch.gov.au or 1300 795 995

• New South Wales: 55 per cent increase (19 per cent in July 2010, and a further 36 per cent between 2011-2015)
• Queensland: 64 - 87 per cent increase (increase depends on electricity network)
• South Australia: 35 per cent increase
• Victoria: 57 per cent increase

The AER's proposals will effectively allow the network operator to increase the charges it passes on to Australia's electricity retailers, and in turn the retailers' business and residential customers.  

The Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA) is less than happy about these large scale price increases, and has pointed to research suggesting that with effective regulation and privatisation of these distribution networks, energy users should see far less severe price increase.

Make It Cheaper says: "There will always be electricity price increases, and sadly business owners will become used to accepting this.  What's worse is when concerns are raised around the legitimacy of price increase, especially when there is a consensus amongst respected industry bodies and researchers that they may not be necessary."

"The AER must provide electricity customers with the confidence that any proposed price increases are fair, and that everything is being done by the regulator to reduce the impact of potential price increases on the end consumer."

"Creating a competitive market environment is key, allowing companies to compete across the range of services required to get electricity to the end customer.  Get that right, and the Australian business owner will benefit with more competitive prices from their energy retailer."

Make It Cheaper says: "This is going to come as a real blow to homeowners. With CHOICE Switch, a true consumer advocate, pulling out of the the energy comparison space you have to question whether there is enough awareness of these services.  

"Hopefully this will act as a real wake up to the state and Federal Governments, energy regulators and the ACCC.  The announcement by CHOICE demonstrates that the regulatory regime across most states real isn't working for consumers."

"The problem doesn't entirely go away for business customers.  Regulation must be improved, but there are savings to be made across all major states, especially for medium to large energy users."

With CHOICE Switch now absent from the market, Make It Cheaper advocates that consumers, both homeowners and business, should always shop around and use an independent and impartial comparison service like Make It Cheaper to find a better, cheaper deal for their electricity and gas supply.

• Generation
• Distribution
• Retail

And ultimately assist in creating a competitive market enviroment.  Industry insiders now however believe that the pause in the sell off will last until after the next election, with a very strong likelihood of the scheme being scrapped entirely.

Make It Cheaper says: "Rather than focus on the elaborate assett sell-off in New South Wales, the State government should be asking the local regulator IPART to improve what it's doing in creating a market environment which will allow companies to enter the market and compete."

"All businesses care about is getting cheaper energy bills, they don't care who ships it to them or how it's generated.  Currently, IPART only allow retailers to make a margin (profit) of 5.4%, which doesn't come close to providing an effective incentive for a new retailer to enter NSW and compete in an aggressive manner with local incumbent retailers."

"As soon as IPART improves what they're doing, it's entirely likely that businesses will start to see some real cuts in energy costs.  And with energy bills estimated to rise by over $5,000 over the next 4 years, it's about time the regulator allowed real competition to exist in New South Wales as it will only benefit the business owner."

The research suggests that 30% of business are likely to list their number on the register, this will mean that around 600,000 of the current 2 million (approx) businesses in Australia will be listed.

COSBOA contend that the use of telephone sales and marketing is a natural function for businesses to promote their wares, with around one fifth of business marketing and selling to other businesses at the moment.

Make It Cheaper says: "The current Do Not Call legislation that protects residential consumer has led to around half of Australia's households signing up.

The real challenge, highlighted by TrueLocal, is that there are over 1.9m businesses, who employee less than 20 people.  These businesses are those without the marketing muscle of the significantly bigger (but smaller in number) multinationals.

This change, if adopted in the wrong way, could very well create a massive 'them and us' syndrome in Australia, which will only end up being to the disadvantage of the true small business, which is part of the lifeblood of the country.

If this proposed legislation goes ahead, it needs to be implemented in a considerate and flexible way, to ensure businesses are protected from 'spamming' and 'heavy handed sales calls' (one of the obvious goals), but allows small business a clear route of access to the businesses they want and need to sell their products and services to."

Simply, it's likely you need to types of solution:

• Home communications solution
• Mobile communications solution

For the home communications solution, you're likely to be considering the main services:

• Landline phone
• Broadband
• TV (Foxtel, Austar, Freeview etc)

For your mobile needs, you'll be considering:

• Mobile phone
• Wireless (mobile) broadband

More broadly within some of these services you'll think:

• How do I get my email, whilst away from home? Answer: email enable 3G phone or, use a wireless broadband dongle with my laptop or notebook.

• I use my mobile so much for business, do I really need a landline? Answer: Consider who else uses the phone - your family or partner, does this make a landline essential for those people?

• Can I use wireless broadband at home, instead of a standalone broadband connection? Answer: quite possibly, a lot will depend on what you do online.  if you're browsing basic websites and checking email, then an all round mobile broadband product might work well, if you're thinking of downloading music or watch YouTube videos, the data costs of a broadband dongle might be prohibitive.

Essentially, once you've answered 'how you use these communications solutions' questions, you'll be able to go to suppliers and ask them to price up what you need.  But knowing what you need before talking to the suppliers is the critical part.

Remember, if a supplier offers to throw in a landline for free, you should be sure to remember, nothings for free.  Check the discount terms, and the length of contracts - it's likely you'll pay the price longer terms.

In short, bundling or not bundling is a very personalised decision, based on a user and business's needs.  Thinking hard about how you use the services first, before committing a large amount of spend to a new service.

Make It Cheaper says: "A baker is typically used to using yeast to make things rise, and that's in their control.  This shows the impact of the Emmissions Trading Scheme is extreme.

For a baker it could be tricky to decrease their energy usage - ideally they would want to see it increase, as that would mean they may be baking more bread.

What's critical is for businesses to keep an eye on their energy costs, and look to shop around when their contract is due for renewal to ensure they get a cheaper deal from a different electricity supplier."

Switching business energy suppliers is quick and simple with a business like Make It Cheaper - independent, easy and compeletly free.

In a visit to Rockhampton, Barry Adams, an QEO representative met both Ergon Energy and complaining customers, who created almost 20% of complaint that the QEO receive.

Make It Cheaper says: "Unsurprisingly, this is a common reaction we find from customers when they see significant price hikes.  When they're unhappy, they complain."

"The Queensland Energy Ombudsman suggests that competition needs to improve, so that customers have a greater choice of retailers to switch to.

For a number of business customers a new supplier called QEnergy is available, and we'd urge all business customers to compare their current electricity prices to a supplier like QEnergy the next time they review their contractual terms."

Switching energy supplier is quick, simple and easy - call Make It Cheaper for further advice.

According to TRUenergy, replacing coal-fired power units at Yallourn with gas-fired units would cost $2 billion to $2.5 billion.

Make It Cheaper says: "There is an inevitable cost to meeting environmental goals.  Once the Government makes clear what these targets will actually be longer term, then small and large businesses consuming electricity will have a far better understanding of the likely costs involved to meet these goals.

Unfortunately, this will means pressure on energy bills, and some significant price hikes.  Businesses need to become more aware of how they are using their energy, and how they can become more efficient in their energy usage."

Aside from greater efficiency, businesses are able to shop around between energy retailers, and switch to those offering cheaper deals - this is a quick and simple way for a business to save money year on year.

Make It Cheaper says: "It's a real concern for the economy when small business starts to raise these issues.  The Australain Government should look to take a leaf out of the US book, who have recently announced that they would shift $30 billion in financial bailout funding to community banks for lending to small businesses."

"What the US is planning could turn out to be a real win for small business, creating some much needed liquidity, and ultimately providing a cash boost which will help small businesses thrive and survive.  This is something the Australian Government seriously needs to consider."

Allan Asher, ex-CEO of energywatch the now defunct UK gas and electricity watchdog, Chief Executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), a new consumer body established by Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, has labelled Australian telco's as making a "vast profit" and saying that Australian consumers are being "abused".

Make It Cheaper says: "For small businesses, text messaging can be a vital way of staying in touch with their customers.  The difference between paying 25 cents a text compared to 2 cents a text when you're sending 10,000 or more texts a year to your customer base is astonishingly large.

The very real fact is that the cost of a text message to a telco is probably under 0.5 cents a time, making any charge over 1 cents very uncompetitive, and reaping Australian telco's a significant profit.

We fully support the ACCAN in fighting for a fairer deal for the Australian consumer and small business."

The best advice for small businesses using text messages as a way to communicate with their customer base is to shop around for cheaper deals and take advantage of suppliers who are looking to offer fair priced deals - possibly in the form of bundled text message deals.

Make It Cheaper says: "The problem is that wireless broadband is great for dipping in and out of the internet when you're out and about, but for a consitent delivery of fast and reliable internet connectivity, it is an extremely poor solution.

"For a small business, the internet provides access to a marketplace, and a marketplace which creates a level playing field between big business and the local entrepreneur.

We'd recommend small business owners pick a wireless broadband product for traveling to business meetings, or getting access at the local coffee shop, if that shop doesn't have wireless internet inplace already.  However, doing business from their home, office or shop, getting a good quality fast internet connection will make life so much easier."

Jackgreen ran into trouble during last month's heatwave on the eastern seaboard when they found themselves unhedged and were forced to buy electricity on the spot market at extremely high prices.

Jackgreen amassed a debt of $809k to New South Wales Government owned retailer Integral Energy, but has been unable to secure sufficient working capital to secure this debt and the ongoing viability of the business.

Jackgreen's 70,000 residential customers will be allocated to retailers competing in the New South Wales, South Australian, Queensland and Victorian energy markets.

Make It Cheaper says: "It's a real shame to see a relatively new competitor in the energy space go under like this.  It shows that without proper government and regulatory support, new market entrants can easily hit the wall in the face of aggressively volatile wholesale prices.  Hopefully the government and energy regulator will look at ways new market entrants can be better supported in the various state based energy markets where there are still not enough competing suppliers."

Existing Jackgreen customers can be confident that with the 'supplier of last resort' mechanism the government runs, they will not be left without energy supplies.  They should keep an eye on the Jackgreen website for further announcements, but as Jackgreen offered both competitive prices and green energy supplies, these customers should look to shop around in the New Year for a new energy deal.

The costs reflect increases across all components of the supply of energy to the end consumer.

Component increases are:

• Cost of energy: 11% increase
• Network costs: 20% increase
• Retail costs: 18% increase

These components contribute the following to the end consumer's energy bill:

• Network: 47% contribution
• Energy: 44% contribution
• Retail: 9% contribution

These numbers show that the increase in network costs makes the largest contribution towards this coming round of bill increases.

Make It Cheaper says: "Today's announcement brings home the fact that energy bills are not going to come down anytime soon.  What's more concerning is that both Origin Energy and AGL suggest that some of the calculations around the increase in the cost of producing and supplying energy actually underestimate what the true cost may be.  This means that businesses and consumers in Queensland can expect price increases not just next year, but in years to come."

Whilst the margin retailers can make out of consumers is capped at 5%, the end cost the businesses pay is down how they buy the raw commodity.  This means that some suppliers end up being significantly more competitive than others, making shopping around and switching a worthwhile business.

In real terms, this means an additional $727 for a Sydney energy bills, whilst those  in country New South Wales could see total increases of anywhere between $554 and $893.  What makes this worse, is that this is just the picture for home owners.

A similar size rise for small businesses could see rise anywhere between $1500 up to $3000.

Make It Cheaper says: "Energy bills are destined to rise and today's announcements brings the potential effect into a stark reality.  With small businesses potentially being hit by an additional $3000 over the coming years, it's going to prove ever more critical for businesses to shop around for cheaper deals.

"The silver lining here is that new suppliers should see this as a sign to enter the New South Wales market and compete aggressively for the huge volume of customers that currently own and operate businesses in the state.  We'd hope that a lot of businesses will be able to offset the effect of these prices increases by merely switching to a cheaper provider"

Shopping around is critical for a small business owner, and it's crucial that they use an independent comparison service to make sure they switch to the best deal in the market for their particular needs.

A significant amount of the usage increase was driven by the industrial, commercial and small business sector, with householder accounting for a minority of the overall usage.  However, Energex reports that a typical household now uses 11 megawatts a year, which has moved up from 6.4 megawatts previously.

Make It Cheaper says: "When it heats up, air conditioning units are turned up to the max, and the electricity grid has to cope.  Both small business and big business will constantly look to provide a comfortable working environment for their workforce - this level of comfort comes at a price.

"It is essential a balance is achieved, both in terms of the environmental impact of using energy, but also the costs involved in ramping up the usage of AC units.  Small business can look to cut their cost by employing a few simple energy saving tips - every little helps."

Ensuring your air conditioning unit is well maintained, and that your climate control system is effective will help a business control their energy usage in the hot summer months.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the majority of new spending resulting from the government's stimulus packages went to big business, allowing for relatively strong growth over the past year, whilst the small independents have struggled with sales declines.

A recent article by Michael Baker, a global retail and property analyst and consultant, suggests that the independent retail sector has only managed three months of sales growth in the past year.  The retail chains have seen year-on-year growth of 8.2%, whilst the small indies have experienced a decline on 1.7% - this represents a 10% difference.

Baker says: "Small retailers are a vital but declining part of the fabric of our retail industry. Bad as some of them are, their presence is often the only thing that distinguishes one retail strip or shopping centre from another."

The indie's share of the retail sector has declined from 45% 15 years ago, to just 37% in the current year.  Not a particularly optimistic place to be for small business.

Make It Cheaper says: "When times are tough, customers buying habit shift, seemingly to the bigger brands who have deeper pockets to promote themselves, and created the perception that they are markedly cheaper than their smaller competitors.  In reality, the small indie's can be just as competitive in pricing terms, but consumers find it hard to figure this out."

"It's certainly a tough time for small business, but cutting down their expenditure on the core services such as electricity, telephone and insurance will free up a little bit of extra cash they can use to promote themselves and show the consumer how good they are."

Confidence is now at it's highest level since Aug 07 which marked the start of the economic downturn.  This is on top of the 40% rise in last 3 quarters.

Make it Cheaper says: "Whilst confidence among small and medium sized businesses is up, there still remains one third of businesses who are not confident about the current economic and business outlook"

The vast majority of business still have some strong concerns about their future business prospects, some key worry areas are: making sales (15%),  cash flow (14%) and overheads (5%).

Make it Cheaper says; "Some of these are simple to remove, especially cash flow and overheads, where finding cheaper suppliers of the core services that the business consumes."

Opinion and forecasts predict confidence to plateau over the next quarter.  The report also shows confidence surrounding the future economic direction has fallen 7%.

The main issues facing SMEs are a continued lack of work / sales for the last quarter as well as cash flow issues.

Make It Cheaper says: "The increase in business confidence is very positive and the plateau is understandable.  With the government's decision to raise interest rates for a third consecutive period, SMEs are going to feel the pressure.  Keeping a close eye on business bills and saving money where you can is crucial."

A recent survey by DBM Consultants found "83 percent of SMEs believed their business would be negatively affected by a rate rise, 58 percent believed their costs would likely increase, 36 percent said their profits would decline and 19 percent said they would have to hold back on growth plans"

The interest rate change will add approximately $150 per month on a $300,000 loan.  This is going to affect the SMEs loans, their home mortgage repayments as well as their customers spending power.

• Not many businesses are changing suppliers
• There aren't many services to help businesses change suppliers

Very soon, Make It Cheaper will offer this exact service - but in the meantime, we thought it would be useful to sign-post some services which you, the small business owner might find useful.

• Natural Gas - The Natual Choice: a service all about natural gas, including a pretty simple to use price comparison calculator.  This service is only applicable to small businesses and homeowner ins NSW and ACT.
• Dial Before You Dig: Less about switching supplier.  More about making sure you don't break through natural gas pipes when you're doing some serious business or home renovations.

Both seem to be useful services, and well worth getting involved with.

Whilst consumers could see $420 added to their electricity and gas costs, a small business could see their own energy costs go up by $1500.

Make It Cheaper says: "The emissions trading scheme is needed because it will focus households and small businesses on becoming greener. But there needs to be the right incentives in place to make sure small businesses get involved and demonstrate that there are some benefits to reducing your power use," he says.

"The small business owner will be feeling a lot of stick at the moment and not enough carrot."

To offset any increase in energy costs small businesses must focus on energy saving measures, and starting shopping around for cheaper energy deals.

Make It Cheaper says: "Business is about give and take, it does seem that over the past 12 months, there's been more taking and not enough giving from Australia's financial instutions.  Unfortuntatly, small business can often be seen as the runt of the litter, with big business focussing on the residential and commercial sectors, leaving small businesses without a fair deal.

"It's good to see the ACCI recognising this and backing small business as they make up the lifeblood of the country"

Small businesses need to pay close attention to their lending rates, and not be afraid of changing lenders, using a credible independent financial advisor.

The Ombudsman identified that around half of the complaints were generated from billing issues, a majority of which involved AGL.  The Ombudsman highlighted issues with late billing, incorrect bills and on some occasions no bill at all, which all resulted in customer complaints.

Make It Cheaper says: "We are starting to see an unfortunate pattern across a number of the states in Australia, where complaints are on the up.  It's a shame that South Australia hasn't managed to buck this trend, but it seems to be the age old problem of retailers' old billing systems coupled with ambitious changes to new billing systems that has caused home owners and small businesses confusion and stress.

"We will see service become an increasingly important factor when customers look to review their energy supplier.  Not only will they be thinking about price, but they will also want to ensure that they receive a good service with accurate billing."

Barry Adams from the Energy Ombudsman Queensland says "Just one family-sized air conditioner would add over $200 to an energy bill if used for five hours a day over three months"

Barry also recommends "It's important to set your air conditioner to 24 degrees. For every one degree cooler you set an air conditioner, you will be charged around 10 percent more on running costs."

Make It Cheaper says "There are many steps you can take to prepare you for the summer heat, use the Recycle function on your air conditioning unit, it's cheaper to cool air from indoors rather than cool the warmer air from outside", "Service your air conditioning unit at the start of summer, clean the filters and make sure the fans and vents are clean. This will ensure the appliance is working as efficiently as possible."

When purchasing a new air conditioner make sure you buy one suitable for the size of the room you're trying to cool. A machine that is too small or too large for the room will lead to inefficiencies and higher energy usage.

Don't forget about ceiling fans! These run at a fraction of the price (2 to 3 cents per hour) of air conditioning appliances and can provide a welcome relief on a hot day. Sometimes however a fan just isn't enough, so a way to save money is to run your air conditioning unit at the same time as the fan but raise the thermostat 10 degrees. The room will remain cool and your air conditioning appliance will use less power.

Please revisit Make It Cheaper in a couple of days to view our new Energy Saving Tips section, aimed at saving small businesses money on their energy bills.

Electricity prices in NSW rose 21.7 % in the September quarter, water 14.8 % and gas 7.4 % (source the Australian Bureau of Statistics).

Consumers are feeling the pain from both sides, not only are they seeing their household energy bills go up, they will be impacted by many businesses passing on these costs to the end price the consumer pays for the product or service.

An expensive outlook is forecasted, with rising international gas prices, increased energy demand, efforts to introduce a carbon pollution scheme and investment in infrastructure are all going to force the price of utilities up.

Make It Cheaper says: "It's essential that consumers and small businesses recognise they can help themselves by switching to a cheaper energy supplier, and at the same time think about how they can become more efficient in their energy usage."

Let Make It Cheaper find you the best deal for your business electricity, gas and water.

Back in September Telstra decided to incentivise small businesses and residential customers towards paying their telecom bills electronically.  The approach they took was to introduce a fee for paying a bill in person or by post.

Due to the number of complaints, it would appear customers felt their needs haven't been met by this approach to move them towards making payments online.

Make It Cheaper says "Customers are the most valuable part of any business, getting them the best possible solution for their needs and keeping their interests in the forefront of your mind is critical.  The upside of this being increased custom as well as customer loyalty."

For many small business owners out there it can be even more difficult.  Longer working hours are very much part and parcel of running your own business.  With the added concern of detrimental effects on the small business owner's health any extra assistance is always welcome.

Make It Cheaper hope to take some of the burden off the small business person's shoulders.  We will spend time finding you a better deal on your business electricity as well as manage the switching process for you.  On top of this, through our blog section and Twitter page we aim to provide you with up to date topical advice to assist you in the running of your business.  Let Make It Cheaper be your second pair of hands!

Complaints have shot up 54% to over 230,000 - that represents a growth of 80,000 actual complaints in just 12 months.  The areas of most concern were disputed charges across mobile phones, landlines and broadband, and the overall level of service across these products.

Residential consumers contributed around 91% of all complaints, whilst small businesses made up most of the remainder, issuing just under 20,000 individual complaints.

Make It Cheaper says: "It's a drain enough for a small business to have to pay their phone and broadband bills in a tough financial year, let alone having to complain about them being incorrect."

"Adding up the amount of time small businesses have spent on the phone to the various telecoms suppliers, it could for some become a part-time job.  In fact, we estimate that in the past 12 months, over 5 years of working time could have been wasted by Small Business owners complaining to the countries big telecoms suppliers.  If true, that would be shockingly wasteful."

Telstra and Bigpond top the table of the highest complained about telco's.  This comes as no real surprise as they hold in many cases, the dominant market share.  It will be interesting to see if the ombudsman looks to see how each company's complaint level fairs as a proportion to the total number of customers they have - then we will really see a league table of poor performers.

One of the things that this report does reveal is the sheer amount of choice that small businesses and consumers have in selecting a new mobile, landline or broadband supplier.  It's up to the customer now to find a better deal.

There are concerns that the ETS is really a stealth tax: it limits the amount of carbon that may be emitted, and so prices are forced up for emission-intensive goods and services such as electricity.  Make It Cheaper feels that the likely outcome is that these price rises would be passed onto the consumer and small business owners.

Although Malcolm Turnbull (Leader of the Liberal party) has stated they'd look to compensate small businesses facing rising electricity prices, whether this actually happens is yet to be seen.

Nationals Leader Warren Truss has serious objections to the bill, his opinion being that, "We are supporting the negotiation of amendments to this dog of a plan because if it just happens to get through the parliament, we should make it less damaging if we can, to the ETS".

With Queenslanders already struggling to pay bills, and the possibility of further rises in prices, we can only hope the various parties can agree on a suitable middle ground. There appears to be a lot of work to do before a compromise is found, but hopefully the various political parties will be able to come to an agreement which doesn't impede on small businesses and consumers alike.

Consumers are concerned about the accuracy of bills, delays in receiving bill, and sometimes not even receiving their energy bills at all.  This results in both residential customers and small businesses receiving significantly higher bills only once or twice a year, making them practically unaffordable.

Make It Cheaper says: "If you're a small business or residential customer struggling to pay your bills, speak to your supplier, and agree a payment plan that will stagger your payments over a period of time, rather than having to fork out one large lump sum."

Since deregulation in 2007 electricity and gas prices in Queensland have risen by 40%, coupling this with poor service, customers will start to wonder whether deregulation of the energy market is going to bring any benefits.  The Queensland governments opposition are making this point strongly to the current government - the likely response will simply be that price increases were going to happen anyway, but suppliers need to shape up and start delivering the sort of service that customers deserve.

The EOQ have highlighted that consumers are finding their energy bills increasingly hard to understand, with complicated terms and conditions and inaccurate billing information - this inevitably makes choosing a new supplier with cheaper rates and improved service very difficult for energy customers.

It's critical that small business customers use a service like Make It Cheaper to help them understand their bill and find a better deal in the market place - and for the residential customer, there are plenty of independent comparison services to choose from who will help find them a cheaper supplier.

It's a simple proposition and site, but the great part is we have a blog where we can vocalise our views - whether that's a glimpse of the business reality (just like this post), commentary on significant market events impacting the Australian business owner, or just useful insights which we hope will help a small business owner make things cheaper.

We are really excited about the prospect of moving to the next stage, and offering a physical service which will save the business owner money.  It's not just talk anymore, this is going to happen.  All I'd say to an Aussie business owner is get involved, and give us a go once we're live - tell your mates, tell your business associates.

Back to the business.  This post is really meant to be more of a self congratulating, back patting effort to acknowledge the wider Make It Cheaper team who have helped and supported the process so far.  Going from the team at the UK parent (MakeItCheaper.com), to friends, family and even the rapidly collected business contacts throughout New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia, who have helped us develop our understanding of the market here is Oz, and get us to where we are.

So thanks to Jonathan, Jeremy, Caroline, Lucy, Chrissie, Jono, Paul, Lynette, George, Nick, Pete and Giles.  There are loads of other business contacts who have opened up their extended network of contacts to me - so thanks very much.

All the best, Tim

A briefing document written earlier in 2009 for the government suggests that a Victorian's household energy bills could jump by around $7 per week, something over $350 per year.

What's unclear is the impact this could have on a small business.  A businesses bills are typically three or four times higher than that of a householders.  Doing the sums, we could see something like $1150-1400 added on per year for a small business owners energy bill, due to the ETS.  A shockingly high amount - but it hammers home the fact that there is a high price to pay to become environmental.

The business owner is going to be hit hard, and will have to redo some of it's core product pricing structures to understand if it can still make a decent margin.  What we will inevitably see is small businesses passing on their costs, regardless of whether their product or service is a B2B or a B2C solution, to the end consumer.

The ETS is going to be the catalyst for a very large set of standing dominoes, eventually toppling down and having far reaching impacts.

Of course, the energy generation mix that Victoria has - significantly skewed to coal fired power stations - and therefore pumping out the CO2 emmissions that the ETS is aiming to penalise and eventually reduce, does not help the cost issue.

For a small business or householder in Victoria it's ever more important to gain a grip on the energy costs you have.

Switch to a cheaper provider and Reduce & Save energy by turning off lights, heating or air conditioning and installing any energy efficiency measure that are available to you.