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Every year the Victorian Government promote the AGL Seniors Card Offer to registered Seniors Card Holders. Scandalously this is far from the cheapest plan available.
AGL has a long history of misleading Seniors
AGL has had a longstanding arrangement with the Victorian Government Seniors Card program.
Every year they conduct a mailout promoting the ‘AGL Seniors Card Offer’ to Seniors Card Holders.
We understand that the Government is paid handsomely by AGL for this privilege.
We raised this arrangement with Senior public servants in 2015 on the basis that the AGL offer was far from the best available in the market. The response was that the different arms of Government were not acting in concert and they would look into it.
In response to that assurance I withheld public criticism. When essentially the same pattern repeated in 2016 and 2017 we wrote in which we showed how Seniors were being mislead
AGL may be a Proud Senior but are they Over the Hill?
How much extra do Seniors pay?
In 2017 we calculated that a Seniors Card couple in Warrnambool could have saved $274 by getting the cheapest electricity and gas prices compared with the Government supported AGL plan designed specifically to ‘benefit’ Seniors.
With the current 2018 AGL Seniors Card Offer, that same couple in Warnambool could save $456 by choosing cheapest electricity and gas prices instead of the AGL plan sponsored by the Victorian Government.
The following table and graph show the savings available in 4 different towns across Victoria. For the savings calculation we have assumed average usage for a two person household and applied the most common electricity tariff, single rate. There are similar savings available for other tariff types.
Savings by Energy Type and Town
| Energy Type | Glen Waverly | Northcote | Sunbury | Warrnambool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | $212 | $239 | $136 | $154 |
| Gas | $362 | $435 | $204 | $237 |
| Total | $574 | $674 | $340 | $391 |
All data correct as of July 12, 2018
This means that the typical Seniors couple could save from $354 – $456 by getting the cheapest prices for electricity and gas rather than the AGL Seniors Card Offer in Victoria.
Victorian Government need to stop exploiting Seniors
Alan Rattray, the founder of Energy Umpire said
“AGL have been duping Seniors card holders for years. For the Government to endorse the AGL Seniors Card Offer in this way is really disgraceful”
“It sums up the what is wrong with the energy market where it seems everyone is on the payroll and taking their cut and even the Government is on the same gravy train.”
“Meanwhile the Government has launched their costly and as we showed, wasteful, Bill Busting Bonus with a budget of $48M”
“How bizarre is it that on the one hand the Victorian Government are spending $48M on the bill busting bonus, while at the same time promoting expensive offers to Seniors Card Holders.”
How to get the Cheapest Energy
With Energy Umpire you get a simple solution. We compare every offer from every supplier and get you the cheapest. We do not accept any commissions from suppliers so you get an independent comparison. When there is a cheaper price available, you get it.