FAQ

Some customers prefer to receive physical (paper) copies of their bills. If you are one of these customers, just shoot us an email through the online form on the Contact Us page, and make sure that you include your name, date of birth and account number, so that we know who you are. Otherwise, give our team a call on 1300 599 008 and one of our friendly staff will be happy to help you to set up paper billing.

Here at Future X Power we encourage all our customers to move away from the old paper billing system and onto email billing. This is because not only is it better for the environment, it’s also better for you – that’s because you won’t have to wait longer to receive your bill in the mail, it saves you going to the PO Box to pick it up, you can access it from any internet connected device, and you won’t have to stress about losing it in that pile of all your other bills in the cupboard somewhere. If you are currently getting paper bills you can elect to receive e-bills by contacting us on our contact us page.

Your e-bill should be exactly the same as a paper bill!!

Future X Power have done our best but to ensure that your bill doesn’t get sent through to your junk mail folder but if you’d like to be sure you can add our billing email address, customerservice@retail.seacrane.com.au to your email address book and/or your email safe-list.

E-billing is just like the old fashioned paper bills, but instead of receiving a paper bill in the mail every 3 months, you’ll receive your quarterly bill by electronic mail.
E-billing is great for many reasons;

• You can view your bill anywhere and at any time
• Reduced chance of lost bills.
• It cuts down on the amount of paper we need to use and our environmental footprint.
• You may receive your bill earlier and have more time to pay it.
• You’re able to keep permanent digital records of your bills- no more need for filing your bills away for years.

Future X Power provides a number of easy payment methods. You can choose to set up a direct debit and not worry about manually paying your bills when they show up, you can jump online and pay them through our simple system or you can BPAY through your online banking. If you’d prefer a more traditional payment method you can send us a cheque or money order or you can call us on our customer service number to pay via MasterCard or visa!

If you are already on one of our great plans, all you need to do is give us a call or send us an email and we will organise to have the plan continued at your new premises, providing of course that your new property has a meter that is eligible (don’t worry – we can check all that for you).

Of course! The reason that the energy market in Victoria is deregulated is so that you, as the consumer, can choose who you receive your bills from. Often times people are misled to believe that the contract they are currently in cannot be breached. You can still move your home or business to Future X Power; we will take into consideration any nominal exit fees you might have with your account when working out just how much cheaper your power will be with us.

If you need any details on your account changed, just give us a ring on 1300 599 008. Make sure you’ve got all the details you need ready and one of our customer service team will help you to get everything fixed up. Just remember that if you’re adding any additional names to the account we might need to speak to the person being added so keep them handy too.

In order to add another authorised contact for your account, all you have to do is give our friendly customer service team a buzz on 1300 599 008. We will need to speak to the person being added to make sure they’re okay with it, so make sure we can speak to them too if we need.

If you have not organised for your billing to be looked after by another retailer you may have to pay a small meter reading or disconnection fee from the distributor which will appear on your final bill. If you cancel after the end of your cooling off period, you will not be charged any cancellation fee from us.

We get it, sometimes you just can’t pay the bill by the due date – maybe you aren’t being paid until the next day – these things happen. The important thing is that you get in touch with us, whether online or over the phone. We can discuss setting up a plan or extending your due date if need be. If you are having an ongoing financial hardship, it’s best that you read through our Hardship Policy and contact us so we can set up a plan that best suits everyone. Just make sure you let us know, because if we don’t hear from you your power could be disconnected, and nobody wants that to happen!

Here at Future X Power we won’t charge you any fees for paying your bills late, but you could lose your discount or face other penalties, so remember to let us know if you’re struggling to get your bill paid on time.

This can be for a number of reasons. Firstly, you might be using more electricity or gas than your friend or family member. Otherwise, chances are you have a different type of meter.  So, your mate might have a tariff code that means they are billed on only one rate, and you might have a different set of rates. Tariff codes can differ door to door, street to street, suburb to suburb – and have been set by your distributor.

Discounts are worked out by taking your percentage discount (21%, 27%, or 29%) off your usage costs for your bill. You can see your usage by looking at the ‘Electricity Charges’ part of your bill. Remember to pay your bills on time or you might lose your discount.

Electricity usage is measured in kWh, or kilowatt hours. You’re probably already aware that there is a metering box for your electricity (and one for gas too if you have a gas connection) located somewhere on your property. Every 3 months or so a meter reader is sent out from your local network or distributor to read your meter. The distributor passes your meter reading info onto us and we prepare your bill based on the figures they give us. Unfortunately, sometimes the meter readers can’t get to the metering box (usually if there is a locked gate, dog or other obstruction in the way) so they may have to estimate your usage. If this happens then any discrepancies between estimated and actual reads will be rectified on your next actual read.

kWh stands for kilowatt-hour. A kilowatt-hour is a single kilowatt of electricity being used for a time period of one hour. mWh stands for megawatt-hour. 1 mWh is equal to 1000 kWh. To put that into perspective, imagine a 100watt light bulb burning for 10 hours. That would use a total of 1kWh of electricity.

This is an initiative put forward by the Australian Government and the Industry, pledging to replace all residential and small business meters.

These Meters are the new way to read electricity usage and should eventually help you to monitor your usage in real time, which will help you to know what you’re using and when you’re using it. With this information, you will be able to find out where you can cut down to cut emissions and ultimately reduce your bill!!

An e-bill, or emailed/electronic bill, is exactly the same as your posted bill would be, but instead of printing it and wasting paper, we email it to you so you get a copy faster.

Every electricity meter (NMI) has at least one tariff code. These show us whether you have a peak billed meter, a time of use meter, a business or residential meter or solar installed. We always establish your tariff codes in our system here to ensure you are always quoted the correct rates for your property.

An estimated read of your meter will happen if the meter reader was not able to take a reading from your meter so we will need to make an estimate of your usage based solely on how much electricity you have used before. But don’t worry, we will always let you know if this is the case on your bill!

Once the distributor has given us the correct reading we can amend your next bill accordingly.

This is your National Meter Identifier which is unique to your meter. It lets us know which meter you are in charge of so you don’t get billed for somebody else’s electricity (sometimes your address may differ slightly from the address listed for your NMI – which is why we always check). You will need this number to change your electricity retailer and will find it located on your bill and on your meter.

The distributor is the company in charge of providing the power to your property. They own the power lines, wires, and the meter box you have. The retailer is the company that you choose to bill you for the energy that you take from the grid. Consumers have the right to choose which retailer they receive their energy bills from, however the distribution zone you’re in cannot be changed. The NSW distributors include Essential, Ausgrid and Endeavour and in QLD its Energex and Ergon.

There are the different categories of billing that are on your invoice. Some people will only be billed a peak rate and a supply charge (also known as a ‘service to property’ charge), some different rates for different times of the day (peak/off-peak/shoulder) and some people have a peak rate, supply charge, and a controlled load (dedicated circuit). A controlled load may appear as “off-peak” on your bill and that’s fine too. Usually, your controlled load is a specific rate you pay for a service like your hot water, ducted heating, or pool pump.

You’ll never need to be home to get your power connected with us. If you are transferring from another company you don’t have to do anything. After your final bill with your old company, you will be automatically transferred over to us. If you’re organising a new connection (or a move in) through Future X Power, then you just need to ensure that your power is switched off (usually the switch is in your fuse box) before we do the connection.

Power can be disconnected for a number of reasons. Usually, it is already disconnected because you have just moved into a new place, and we handle the organisation of switching the power on for you – which is done either remotely or on premises by your local distributor. Otherwise, your power can be disconnected due to unpaid bills. If this is the case, give our team a call and we can sort out the unpaid bills and getting the energy flowing again. Be aware that there are connection fees for electricity and gas in NSW and QLD

Power is generated through many avenues. In NSW or QLD, your electricity may be generated by coal-fuelled power stations (like Yallourn in the Latrobe Valley), or through wind farms or even through hydroelectric plants on the Snowy River. It is then fed through those really tall, heavy-duty power lines, routed through transmission stations around the state, and then flows down the power lines you see on the streets to your property.

When you have a fault, blackout or interruption to your service, the company in charge of fixing this issue is your local distributor. On your bill, there is a number listed for the company in charge of your distribution zone. If you can see that your neighbors are also experiencing a black-out, your distributor is probably already aware of the issue and working on a way to fix it, so no need to worry. Sit tight, light a candle, and tell ghost stories to pass the time.