Latest news with #powercompanies
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pakistan power companies have not introduced additional peak charges
Pakistan authorities have rejected claims circulating online that its power companies are charging more for electricity during morning peak hours, calling the posts "actionable disinformation". There is still only one peak hour period in the evening throughout the country. "Morning hours are also counted as peak hours ... Loot with both hands, loot the public," reads an Urdu-language post on X on July 12, 2025. It includes a screenshot of a table titled "Regional Peak Hours by Distribution Company" listing peak hour periods in the morning and evening from different Pakistan power companies. The same table was also shared elsewhere on Facebook and TikTok. Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive Pakistani administrations to repeatedly hike electricity costs (archived link). Prices have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-percent increase, and power bills sometimes outweigh rents. However, the country's power companies have not introduced additional peak hour charges for the morning. A reverse image search found the Ministry of Energy rejected the claim by reposting one such false post on X (archived link). "There is no change in electricity peak hours. Claims about the inclusion of morning hours as peak hours are completely false and misleading. Peak hours remain the same as before," it reads. "This is fake news and actionable disinformation." Most of Pakistan's power companies share the same evening peak hour charging schedule as the state-owned Power Information Technology Company, as shown in a timetable posted on its official website (archived link). Meanwhile, the privately owned Karachi Electric charges extra for power usage between 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm from April to October, and between 6 pm to 10 pm for the remaining five months of the year (archived link). Neither company has announced an additional peak charge in the morning. Pakistani outlet Geo News also debunked the false claim (archived link).
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
AGL Energy bill problem that has angered Australians
TV star Reggie Bird has exposed the abject failure of Australia's energy policy, with her electricity bill almost tripling in just three months. The 51-year-old mother-of-two slammed her energy provider AGL after she received a quarterly electricity bill for March to June of $1,304.61. Reggie had paid $461.13 in the previous quarter. 'Please explain AGL - how can my electricity bill go so bloody high from using the air conditioner over summer months Dec-March to not using it from March onwards and my power is triple?,' the former Big Brother winner posted. 'It doesn't make any sense? I know power companies said they were increasing their prices but this much is crazy. 'I know there are people who are homeless and would give anything to have a home but this is just ridiculous paying so much for power.' After looking into her charges, Reggie discovered her previous bill was an 'estimated amount' and that it appeared AGL had added the extra costs to the current quarter. Reggie explained she did not understand why AGL had charged her almost triple the amount of the last quarter as she had not used her air conditioner Reggie said she did not understand why the previous bill was an estimated amount as the power company had access to the entire unit complex and its meters. Daily Mail Australia has contacted AGL for comment. Social media users were appalled, but not surprised, at the massive increase in Reggie's electricity cost as many had experienced similar. 'I'm on my own. My last electric bill was $500 dollars. I don't cook, or use aircon or heater, just showers. Bloody hell,' one person commented. 'Contact the ombudsman for power he might be able to help you. We use the same power company and they charge us more than that monthly. It's crazy,' a second person wrote. Others urged Reggie to contact AGL and find out whether the current bill was an estimate and if so to provide the company with accurate readings of her meters. 'I had an extortionate gas bill of $750 and it was an estimate. Sent in a meter reading and revised one was $190. Check the bill and meter,' one person commented. 'That's exactly what happened to us!!! Same excuse. Our bill (we have solar panels) doubled and then found a note they couldn't get into our box,' a second person wrote. 'I had two estimates in a row as the meter reader 'couldn't find the meter'. I took photos of the meter showing the reading and my bill was adjusted by nearly $500,' a third person chimed. A fourth added: 'AGL did this to us twice and I rang them, took photos of the clocks and they were way off'. Another frustrated customer said rising bills weren't just due to dodgy meter readings, but also steep price hikes. The Tango Energy customer shared a 'price increase notice' from their provider, revealing their electricity usage rate had more than doubled - jumping from 14.54 cents to 29.86 cents per kilowatt-hour. 'Generally increases have been reasonable until this notice where the service charge have been reduced by 50 cents per day, but then usage gone up,' they wrote. It comes after energy regulators locked in a power bill increase of more than nine per cent for some Australian households. The Australian Energy Regulator's (AER) final determination report, released last month, instituted the increase on safety net prices from July 1. The increase determines what retailers can charge customers in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia during the next financial year under a default market offer. What's causing the high power prices? High demand and network outages were blamed for the steep wholesale prices feeding into higher retail prices, along with the reliance on expensive renewable energy as Australian governments phase out coal-fired power stations to pursue the goal of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. 'These spot prices were partially driven by a greater frequency of high price events, which resulted from a range of factors including high demand, coal generator and network outages, and low renewable generation output,' the AER said. In regional New South Wales, Essential Energy residential customers face the biggest increase of $228 or 9.1 per cent, with the AER citing 'improved network resilience to address climate change-related risks' along with 'the integration of consumer energy resources including rooftop solar, batteries and electric vehicles'. This takes the average annual electricity bill for 2025-26 to $2,741, which is even steeper than the $188 or 8.5 per cent increase for Endeavour Energy customers in Sydney, who will be paying $2,411. Another Aussie shared the rate of their electricity usage had jumped a whopping 105 per cent from 14.542 to 29.865 cents per Kilowatt-hour (pictured) The increases in NSW were up to 6.7 per cent above forecast inflation, with more homes having a smart meter monitoring when residents used electricity. In south-east Queensland, Energex's increases were more moderate at $77 or 3.7 per cent, or 1.3 per cent above forecast inflation to an average of $2,143. South Australians were set to see a $71 or 3.2 per cent increase, which was 0.8 per cent above predicted inflation for SA Power Networks customers, for an average bill of $2,301. Veteran American energy analyst Robert Bryce warned that Australia's push toward net‑zero was placing a heavy economic strain on ordinary households, as soaring power prices ripple through the economy, driving up costs in key industries and inflating prices for everything from construction to groceries. Australia's net zero policy aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to virtually zero by 2050 through a transition to renewables, storage, and gas-backup. 'What is wrong with you Australians? You have natural resources that are the envy of the rest of the world,' Mr Bryce told Credlin. 'You're the Saudi Arabia of the Southern Hemisphere, you export seven times more coal than you consume and yet you don't want to burn coal. 'You have nearly 30 per cent of the world's uranium and you won't build nuclear reactors. 'You export three times more natural gas in the form of LNG than you consume, and you won't drill for gas. 'I've got no dog in this fight, but it just is incredible to see how bad the policy is here in such a resource-rich country.' How to save on your energy bill Research from Canstar Blue found nearly one quarter - or 23 per cent - of Aussies never checked to see if they could change plans or providers to save on household bills. Canstar Blue Data Insights Director Sally Tindall revealed households could save more than $5,500 if they switched to lower cost providers for bills including insurances, the mortgages, electricity, gas, NBN and mobile phone plans. The average household could potentially save up to $319 a year on their electricity bills and up to $294 on their gas bills if they made the switch. Tindall said the end of the financial year was an opportunity for Aussies to revaluate their household expenses. 'It's the prime opportunity to do a stocktake of your expenses to see what you could switch, ditch or slim down to save,' Ms Tindall said. 'Service providers also have targets they need to hit, which makes now the perfect time to leverage the competition.' Ms Tindall advised July was the peak season to switch electricity providers as customers try to mitigate the price hikes introduced at this time by the AER. 'While the temptation is to put it in the too hard basket, if you can carve out a few hours in the next week, you'll be amazed at how quickly the savings start tallying up,' Ms Tindall said.
Washington Post
09-06-2025
- Climate
- Washington Post
Stormy night in Texas was a harbinger of the weather to come this week
Damaging thunderstorms raced across North Texas from Sunday night into Monday, bringing wind gusts of around 80 mph, downing trees and power lines north and east of Dallas-Fort Worth and causing thousands of power outages. The stormy night was a harbinger of the weather to come this week, with rounds of storms and possible flooding expected for Texas, but some severe weather also possible for a swath of the country from Louisiana to New York on Monday.
Bloomberg
26-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Malaysia, Singapore Explore Importing Wind Energy from Vietnam
Major power companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam have agreed to explore renewable energy links across their borders, as Southeast Asia takes steps to realize its long-held vision of a regional supergrid. The 'industry alliance' will look to export green electricity, especially offshore wind power, from Vietnam to the other two countries, according to a statement from Singapore's Sembcorp Industries Ltd. on Monday.
Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Power companies ‘underspending on fixing networks'
Electricity network companies have spent hundreds of millions of pounds less than planned on refurbishing and replacing their networks in recent years, blaming factors including supply chain problems and labour shortages. Regional power distribution companies underspent their budget for so-called 'non-load related' capital expenditure — investment to maintain the health of existing assets — by £290 million or 22 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year, according to figures quietly released by the regulator last month. National power transmission companies have underspent their non-load budgets for grid replacement and refurbishment by £508 million over the three financial years from 2021-24, the figures show. The disclosures come at a time of heightened scrutiny of the reliability of Britain's power networks, following substation fires including one that
