What tariff should I be on?
There are two basic tariffs involved when it comes to prepaid electricity purchases. These are charged consumption based and charged demand based.
Small Power Users:
Small power users are your residential and small tenant space users that are charged consumption based charges. Consumption based (domestic tariff) charges for residential and small tenant space space uses are usually high.
Large Power Users:
Large power users are your large company buildings, hotels and factories. These are charged a demand based (business tariff) consumption charge which is lower than normal domestic tariff charges.
Incline Block Tariff:
Why do I get less units now than I have when I bought at the beginning of the month? The most likely culprit would be the incline block tariff, so let’s delve a bit into what this means:
This tariff divides the price of electricity into blocks/steps. The first block is at the lowest price, as you buy more electricity through out the month, you eventually fall into block 2, which you will pay a bit more for. At the end of the month, this history resets and the customer begins at block 1.
Movement to the next tier is not affected by whether the the purchase was spread out in many transaction or part of one single transaction. An example of what this might look like follows below:
