Amber Electric
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Completely False & Misleading
I have been an Amber customer since December 2020. Like many, I bought into the wholesale price story and a cool APP that reflects the spot price and with a Default Market Offer Cap designed to give the consumer peace of mind over not paying above-market rates & instant notifications that help me to actively reduce energy during spot price spikes. What I have found 7 months on is that the real cost is in fact much higher than other retailers like AGL/Origin/Alinta and the alleged Default Market Offer Cap that is suppose to protect me from paying above-market rates doesn't appear to protect me at all as the rates I've paid are 58% higher than traditional retailers - comparison below. My bills are so confusing to read and interpret with over 30 line items that the average person would have no idea how to interpret!!! My home located in Mermaid Waters Gold Coast has 2 occupants, pool on a timer set between 10-1 + electric hot water with a circuit timer to control load during solar generation hours + 5kW Solar - my average daily demand 12.7kW PD + Solar Generation on average around 15kW PD - my June bill for 30 days was $148.15 or roughly .39C per kWh which includes daily supply charge and credits from Solar. I point out that Ambers promise to provide a Default Market Offer Cap clearly doesn't work when you consider the following... I compared my real-life outcome with our retailer energy plans to establish if I should switch retailers: Origin Solar Boost Plan - 22.9C Peak Usage Charge incl Supply Charge/Solar Meter Charge + 13C Solar FIT or AGL Solar Savers - 22.21C kWh incl Daily Supply Charge & a Solar FIT of .15C kWh Had I been with any of the providers above I would have not had a bill at all, I would have been in credit! AMBER Customer Support You can not get through to an operator at Amber as they work on a 2-Day call-back system, preferring customers to communicate via their Web Support link which I never get a reply to although they replied to this review but failed to reply to 4 support requests that are still outstanding after 4 days :-( Clearly, the Amber Offer while well-intentioned, is just a software gymock with lots of razzle-dazzle but clearly lacks market competitiveness and consumers considering Amber should think twice based on this real-life scenario & if the household is committed to a renewable energy future, then just install solar directly and find a retailer that rewards the consumer based on a competitive peak use tariff, daily supply charge & Feed IN Tariff for surplus solar electricity & if the user has high demand at night, consider adding Battery Storage which is now more affordable!!! Food for thought!