We're Changing... Well They Are! | Life Love and Hiccups: We're Changing... Well They Are!
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Thursday 13 November 2014

We're Changing... Well They Are!

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This post is brought to you by Origin Energy

Don’t you love it when a company says “Hey, we got it wrong so we are going to change to suit you”?

I sure as hell do.

Last week, I was invited to the Sydney Origin office to talk about Electricity and Gas, but to be totally honest with you; I was kind of all YAWN at the prospect.

I mean I practically cry every time I see an electricity bill in my letterbox and I will do anything ANYTHING to get out of speaking to one of those randoms who call me on the phone during witching hour to discuss our gas plans. So why the hell would I want to go and spend the day talking about that kind of stuff.

Turns out - I’m glad I went!

Not only did I learn how I could save a bucket load of money, I learned that Origin Energy know that we customers expect more from them than what we have got in the past, and so they are making some big changes to the way they do things.

Just so you know, I’m not currently with Origin for gas or electricity... but I am planning on changing that. The fact that the changes they are implementing will have a BIG impact on my family, is enough reason alone.

I LOVE that I can pay my bills weekly, fortnightly or monthly, I am whooping with joy that there will be no random knocks on my door from them nor will they call me at witching hour when all I want to do is hide from the kids and drink my G&T and I am beyond stoked that finally a large company like Origin realises that I want to be able to call them when it suits me (i.e. when the kids are in bed) and not when it suits them. 



I like the fact that Origin is born and bred Australian, and that they are proactively helping us Aussie families try to save money on our bills.

They recognise that we need advice, good advice on how to understand our bills and manage our energy costs, and so just like the Dolly Doctor we had for help when we were tweens, we now have ‘Ask Anne’ -  whose job it is to spend time with Aussie customers businesses, schools, community groups and us residents to help us to become more energy efficient.


I practically chewed Anne’s ear off when I met her... I had a gazillion questions I wanted to ask her about cutting down my energy bills in our home.

She gives good advice our Aunt Anne - For example, did you know that by washing our clothes in cold water instead of hot, the average household could save around $120 bucks a year! That’s my yearly supply of Bombay Sapphire right there!

Here are some other great tips Anne gave me on how to save some serious money on our bills.

For those of us who have access to ‘time-of-use’ pricing contracts, we could save a pretty penny by utilising the Off Peak periods for everyday things like doing laundry, running the pool pump and running the dishwasher. Not all of us have access to ‘time-of-use’ pricing so remember to check with your retailer if you do;

For those of us who do have it, 'time-of-use' is structured into these periods:


I may be someone who doesn't even know how many solar panels we have on the roof, nor have I ever changed touched any other button on my dishwasher other than the on/off switch, but I am going to rope my family into my mission to slash our energy bills and I am going to make a phone call and change our gas and electricity to Origin so we can pay monthly and no longer have that quarterly heart attack.


I’m curious – what would spend the money you could save on?
Does anyone else grossly overuse their clothes dryer?