Just a very quick post about the $250 rebate offered by the Andrews Government here in Victoria.
- The rebate is available from the 1st of July, 2022, so now.
- Every Victorian household is eligible.
- To apply, you will have to go to the Victorian Energy Compare website – click the link to go straight there or click the URL below: https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/
- You will see:
Click the ‘Submit a $250 Power Saving Bonus application’ button.
From there you will be taken through a number of pages that either request information or ask you to accept terms and conditions.
One of the things you will be asked to provide is a PDF of your electricity bill. If, like me, you receive your bills via email, you will have to download the attached document that details specifics about your bill – i.e. how much energy you’ve used, how much it costs, any solar contributions, etc. That attachment is the PDF they’re requesting. There is also an option to submit a hardcopy of the bill but as I didn’t select it, I don’t know how that would work.
I know the government is trying to get people to use the Energy Compare website – it’s pretty good actually, and I’ve used it in the past – but I can’t help wondering how pensioners without computers, or the skills to use them, are supposed to access this rebate. Smartphone perhaps? But what if you don’t have a smartphone, or don’t know how to use it for things other than making a phone call?
Having spent the last five years of my working life helping to teach computer literacy to Beginners, I know there are a lot of them.
I’m also a little puzzled about why this rebate isn’t being shouted from the rooftops. Then again, I don’t watch much TV so perhaps that’s why I didn’t know about it [thanks for telling me, Megan!].
Anyway, the rebate exists so put in your application and get some relief from the bill shock we’re all experiencing.
cheers,
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
July 19th, 2022 at 4:34 am
Well done! 🙂 … so is it going in the bank or in the purse? 🙂
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July 19th, 2022 at 7:46 am
Sadly it’s going on the electricity bill! It’s been so cold here, the little split system I have in my very small office is on all day and I /still/ feel cold. I usually love winter but I’m so over this one.
Speaking of winter, are you and Mrs Widds going to stay in the caravan when it’s however many below???
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July 19th, 2022 at 12:56 pm
Not a chance!!! 😀 … If our RV had true winter insulation we might consider it, but it doesn’t so we’re not. This campground is only open until the end of September, so we need to either rent a place for the winter and store the RV, or head back south and over-winter in the Lower Mainland (not our favourite option but it’s the back-up plan)
In this neck of the woods the temps can stay well below freezing for weeks, and then there’s the snow on the ground for months! 😀 … if we manage to stay here, I’ll be in snow-heaven … you know me … SNOW!!! 😀
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July 19th, 2022 at 1:28 pm
lmao! Yes, snow deep enough to bury you! Seriously, I’m glad you’ve got it all worked out. Snow may be nice but the cold isn’t. I hope you find a nice place to winter over so you’re ready to head out again once the weather gets warm enough. 🙂
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July 17th, 2022 at 12:27 am
Great news to share, Andrea. My parents are completely illiterate when it comes to technology of any sort, so I too wonder about the ability of older people to access rebates or take advantage of services. When the US government sent covid relief funds to all its citizens, they sent debit cards. My parents (and a lot of other elderly people, per the news reports), didn’t know what they were and threw them out.
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July 17th, 2022 at 9:03 am
Oh. My. God.?!? Threw them out? That’s beyond awful. Not just the waste, but that those poor people had to do without at a time when they needed that help the most. Boomers and beyond are fast turning into the forgotten generations.
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July 18th, 2022 at 12:23 am
It was such a problem that there was a recourse, but what a disaster, and so time consuming.
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July 18th, 2022 at 7:40 am
With so much money involved, you’d think that someone would have said ‘hang on a minute, what about…?’
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July 18th, 2022 at 8:14 am
I know. We get lots of credit card offers in the mail with “sample” cards that we just throw away. We’ve trained older people to watch out for scams and offers like these, so I’m not surprised that they saw a card and tossed it.
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July 18th, 2022 at 7:38 pm
I can understand that a younger person weaned on tech would think it was a great idea, but even then, you’d expect people in such positions of power to have some kind of real world experience.
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July 18th, 2022 at 10:41 pm
You would think so. 😉
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July 15th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
not all elec suppliers give an option for a bill download, and sometimes, the icon to request a rec’t does nothing. I vote to bring back paper bills!
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July 15th, 2022 at 12:25 pm
lol – I’d love to have paper bills as well! Do none of these big corporations realise that email inboxes are notorious for burying emails? Or sending them to spam? As for clicking on an email to /pay/ a bill…-rolls eyes- are they getting a kickback from the hackers who prey on us via emails????
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July 19th, 2022 at 4:33 am
they probably do realise it, but it doesn’t affect their bottom line so what do they care. 😦
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July 19th, 2022 at 7:48 am
-sigh- Yes. Apparently the evidence is mounting that big corporations are price gouging on top of the pandemic, Ukraine, global supply chain issues etc and making huge profits whilst pushing inflation higher. They really have turned into the Robber Barons of the past.
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July 15th, 2022 at 9:35 am
we got one in ireland too, 200 euro off our bill! We’ll be getting another 100 in the autumn!
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July 15th, 2022 at 9:37 am
High Five, Carol anne! We’re only getting a one-off rebate, but as I’m on a pension, every little bit counts.
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July 15th, 2022 at 9:27 am
I had heard about it Meeks, but through word of mouth, not government advertising. Thanks for the detail you have provided…I need to get on to it. As you say, it must exclude many people who can’t easy use a computer, who may well be the people who need the rebate the most.
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July 15th, 2022 at 9:39 am
Yes, do apply asap, Anne. I’m actually waiting for my next electricity bill to hit, and I’m not looking forward to it as we’ve been using our heaters a lot.
I’m hoping that friends and family will hear about the rebate and help the less able to get what they’re entitled to.
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