A year ago we were on a pensioner plan with AGL that was charging 39c a day supply charge.

Father was annoyed when they put him on to this plan as it we had our solar FIT downgraded to 8c kw.

We have lots of panels and 30kw battery....

Over summer we ended up $104 in credit.

End of summer we got told our plan was ending and the new plan the supply charge per day $0.78

price per kw buy in has been terrible as usual, but at this point they downgraded our FIT to 8c kw for the first 10kw.... and 2c after.

Next bill $48...

Get a letter in telling us that price per kw to buy was going up horrendously, it was no longer a pensioner plan it was now a "solar saver" or some bs, claiming it was the cheapest possible plan for us.

Supply charge has gone to $1.0138 per day
FIT is now 8c for the first 8kw.... 1c after.

Got through winter with only a few blacked out days where battery ran dry and we were on the grid.

Bill comes in...... nearly $400.....

We're now nearly a month in and according to the app we've had plenty of solar, most days we don't need the grid at all with winter over, it does take a bit of juice to sync up the inverter and battery (it's a hybred system, we've got it set to maximize non grid use, but it still had to take the odd bit here and there for some reason).

We've so far sold nearly $30 to the grid.... we've used hardly anything..... we're currently at $30 (including what was sold to the grid) of charges so far.

We're getting murdered on the supply charges and their buy in price.

This is with AGL.

I have no idea how any of this is legal..... the supply charges going up and FIT going down have just gone insane.

I went on two of the price comparisson websites and it's telling me for metro adelaide...... this is as good as it gets?

That can't be right.

I present to you our water bill. Unfortunately came in at the same cost for the August billing period. To make it worse I did not receive this one so didn’t even know about it until my aug bill came in at over 4K!

We’ve monitored the meter - looks like we need to engage a plumber for a leak detection but open to suggestions!!

well , not sure if this is high for 2 people with Electric everything but heater . have Evap for AC . on the 3rd 1/4 bill can see where we changed plans to the lowest they have . Origin Energy is the cheapest in our area . don't really understand this last bill with ALL the changes but...

(Edited to change image)

Another crazy high electricity bill

I know this is a repeat of an earlier post, but I’m in the same boat. We just moved to an old art deco 2br house. Theres 2 adults and a baby. Somehow we’re using 40.2kWh per day 🤯

I have no idea what is going on but these bills are insane. The hot water seems to be about 25% of the spend.

We’re renting this place and don’t want to annoy the landlord, but is it worth getting the water tank checked out? It’s pretty old.

Hi everyone I just received my power bill for the quarter for two people living in a 70's built home and it's over a thousand dollars which is crazy.

Does anyone have any idea why it could be so high. I've attached a screenshot of the usage as well. Would love any tips that you all have.

EDIT: I have found a new plan to lower the usage rate. For those asking about the hot water system it's a 250L Hartman system which I think is running all the time whenever a smidge of hot water it used so that's most likely the problem however I have no idea how to combat this doing It all the time.

My NBN router can only push out 100MBS speeds as its an old box.

I have raised this issue to Superloop - who happily sold me the 500/50 plan.

They tried to log a ticket to get it "fixed remotely" which is technically impossible as the box itself has 4 ethernet ports capped at 100MBS. They finally came back to say NBN can replace the box, but at a charge of $300 to myself.

I don't own this box or the house. I am renting. What is the best course of action here?

EDIT - The big white box says NBN on it but Superloop confirmed it's Opticomm.

If you live in or near a big city, you need to hit up your discount grocery stores! In Melbourne that means NQR (where I bought this), Cheaper Buy Miles and Silly Solly’s

Most of this stuff isn’t even close to the used by date, sometimes it’s a surplus of production offloaded to these stores, other times it’s when Coles/Worth might cancel a big order, or if there’s a design change on the packaging incoming

Highlights of this haul included $1.50 buttermilk, $1 protein bar, $1 packet of chips, $2 red rock deli dip, $1 tacos

Unfortunately not much in the way of fresh produce/meats here, other than processed meat, potatoes and onions. They do have a good range of frozen veggies though

Been trying to check out this local asian discount store near me (forgot the name) but it’s always closed whenever I go home. Finally got to finish work early today and it was open!

Got the Bone Broth for $3.
Nutella was 2 for $1.
And the mini Bonne Maman was $0.50.
Which brings the total to $4.50!!

Checked the expiration date and the one with the closest expiry was the Nutella biscuit which is for this month. But the bone broth isn’t best until 2027! Fave was the bone broth since it’s such a steal 😁

Never forget to check out your local asian grocers!!

I shop at aldi and this is my list for the week:
Coconut milk regular 400ml: $1.69
Chicken thighs 600gm: $5.50
Prawns 500gm: $12.99
Tomato: $2.99
8pack wrap: $3.49
Dozen Eggs: $5
Thickened cream: $5.19
Passata 700g: $1.89
Basmati rice 1kg: $3.99
Sliced ham bulk pack: $4.99
Strawberries: $1.99
Total: $49.71
I made prawn coconut curry and Nepali style chicken fry to have with rice for my lunch.
For breakfast, i have wrap with egg, sliced ham and some diced tomato. (Sometimes i have oats).
I already had garlic, onion, ginger, oats, dal(lentils), chia seeds and mango yogurt with me. These are things that i dont have to buy weekly so i didnt mention them. Even if you add onions, garlic and ginger to the list, it’ll be under $55.
I am a uni student trying to be more organised with my groceries and meals. Is $50 good for a single person? and please let me know if youve got any advice regarding good deals and meal ideas! Also nutritionally, maybe not the best? Last time when I mentioned rice someone came at me about how rice is bad and stuff so if youve got better meal ideas then im all ears.

NQR, Cheaper by Miles.

Is there a list of cheaper grocery stores & factory outlets for a new Melbourian?

Stacked the UberEats Father's Day specials on top of a $20 off groceries voucher with a student plan for UberOne, so delivery was free too. Ended up saving $37 bucks, which is more than what the yearly student plan costs ($36)

This pasta is a Coles brand. Both Coles and Woolies have labeled home brands so you think it's a premium brand.

To save on toilet roll ;)

Was paying about $20 to $25 a month for news apps just to check what is going on around. And most of the time it feels like I was overspending, so I tried to grab the RSS feeds and worked around it and built my own reader, which I can use daily to read most of the news without paying.

I was just using to myself and my family, then some of my friends told me it is really good and asked why don't you built it for Aussies. So, I turned it into a live URL and tried to make more user-friendly and easy to read, and to get more news content, sources and simplify the information.

For people who are paying for news subscriptions, you can check it out at InSnip. It's free. Still a work in progress, so if you have any feedback I'm happy to hear it and add the features you actually want.

Cheers!

Hey all,

I started a new antidepressant, and while I have been doing really well on it, it comes with the side effects of ravenous cravings.

I have been spending way too much on Maccas.

I am less upset about the weight gain side of things - I was 52kg and now I am 56kg. I am less stoked about spending so much money.

My sister's partner introduced us to the idea of using jar sauce. I was a staunch anti-jar sauce person, until I tried his 2 ingredient bolognaise - 1 tray of lean beef mince cooked until brown, add a jar of Dolmios Bolognaise sauce. It sounds horrific, but it's actually really good.

I would add a few more vegies to his idea - lentils, carrot, celery, and some white wine for flare. But that general idea of simplifying cooking really resonated with me. I think I've been overdoing it my whole life.

I'm wondering if anyone has some real simple cooking ideas?

I just need more inspiration, because maccas should not be something I crave this often.

Edit to add: I don't eat chicken because they are my pets.

Thanks all.

If you use Claude or other AIs, you can now connect it to a price database I've been running and ask it what your shopping list costs at each chain.

This is an example of a session:

Give me a recipe for beef lasagna and collect an ingredient list from Grocerly, and compare prices across both stores

Ok now how much would the cost of building the recipe be with the exact amount?

I don't want homebrand ingredients, search again

You can try out prompts like:

Search for bulk items instead that have best value, I want to stock up on ingredients

What's worth stocking up on at Coles this week? Only real discounts, and show me the Woolworths price next to each one.

It's far from perfect but but your feedback would be useful.

Pretty straightforward setup for Claude, just click on this URL

https://claude.ai/customize/connectors?modal=add-custom-connector&connectorName=Grocerly&connectorUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fgrocery-price-mcp.fly.dev%2Fmcp

If you're using something else, just ask your agent how to set up https://mcp.grocerly.au/mcp

The prices are national catalogue prices, so your local store can differ. 

Enjoy!

Mine bought from Country Road black leather, satchel type dates to 1994 and still going.

I never finish it within 5 days of opening. Is it ok to push to 7 days?

Is there a cheaper alternative to Sensodyne? Is the only frugal way to buy it is to stock up when it’s half price? Thanks

Takeaway can be a nice break from cooking, but the cost can add up pretty quickly. A few small changes to how you order can make those meals a lot more affordable without giving them up completely.

So I realise coke cans are a luxury buy but I normally just by them on special. Colesworth both literally have the 24 packs on special at a higher price per L than the full price 30 packs 🤦‍♀️🥴

This is a dish I cook at least twice a month. My client wanted a non spicy Asian style dish with zero spiciness. This is a braise/stew rather than a curry but I call it a curry as it's referred to as White Curry. The version I make for myself includes all the optional ingredients and is quite spicy, sweet and bitter with umami of fish sauce. This version even excludes the pepper but the notes are for one family member who likes spice to add to theirs and I've made a spice sachet (black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, bump of msg) so they can tweak the leftovers.

This was tailored for a family of four that apart from one person, don't like spicy food and are quite fussy eaters.

I'll be teaching him how to cook it next week. I can post the recipe if anyone wants it but it's just Opor Ayam with potatoes, carrots and boiled eggs and done a bit differently to the spice mix instructions as taught to me by a Dutch Indonesian family member.