SmoothPay is a payment option designed to smooth out all the seasonal peaks and troughs of energy usage, so that you can make consistent payments throughout the year.
SmoothPay works by looking ahead at your expected energy usage over the next 12 months and smoothing out the cost of that usage into consistent payment amounts over that period. Because SmoothPay is an ongoing service, we’re always looking a year
ahead – that means we’ll adjust your SmoothPay amounts to reflect any changes to your actual and expected usage. This keeps your payments as smooth (and accurate) as possible.
Just note that SmoothPay is a payment option only – it doesn’t affect any of the features of the plan you’re on.
How do you calculate my SmoothPay amounts?
We calculate your SmoothPay amounts using a combination of what we know about your past energy usage and your actual energy usage once you start using SmoothPay. If we don’t have enough information about your past energy usage (or any at all), we
may estimate your energy usage or combine our estimate with any information we do have. In some cases, this might mean we make a few adjustments to your payments in the period after you take up the service, just until we know more about your energy
usage patterns.
The benefits
- You’ll avoid bill shock in months when you use more energy.
- You’ll always know what you’re going to pay, so you can plan for your energy spend ahead of time.
- You can choose to pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly – whatever’s best for your budget.
- There’s no lock in – while SmoothPay payments become more consistent the longer you’re signed up, you can cancel it at any time.
Will I still receive bills?
You will still receive bills for your records. However, because you use direct debit to make payments on SmoothPay, you don’t need to do anything with the bills you get – they’re just there to show you how much energy you’ve used.
Your bill will also continue to show an account balance. Depending on your usage, the balance may be in credit or debit. That's because in months where you’re using less energy, you’re paying for slightly more to prepare for high-usage periods down
the track (and vice versa).
What if my energy use changes?
We’ll keep an eye on things to make sure your SmoothPay payments match your energy usage. If your usage differs from what we expected, or your rates change, we’ll tweak your payments accordingly. We’ll always let you know ahead of time
if this is happening.
If you change to another plan, you’ll keep your SmoothPay setup and we’ll adjust your payments if necessary.
I’m a new (or newish) customer – how do you know how much energy I use?
If we have less than 12 months of usage data for you, we’re still learning exactly how much energy you use over a whole year. That means our estimates (and therefore your payments) are unlikely to be completely accurate from the start, so they’ll
change a few times in your first 12 months as a customer. But – as we get a clearer idea of your usage patterns – these will eventually even out.