Moving, connections & metering

Log in to your account from your desktop or via Powershop’s mobile app.

When using your desktop, use the password you chose when you switched. If you can’t remember it, don’t sweat — let us know and we’ll email you a link to reset your account. Haven’t downloaded the app? Get it here.

Our online tools and mobile app also allow you to track your electricity use – and of course, one of the best ways to save on your bill is to reduce your usage. By investing in energy efficient appliances, you can also help change your usage habits.

To go shopping, log in to your Powershop account from your desktop or mobile app and select ‘Shop’.

We sell power in different dollar amounts called Powerpacks. This means you can buy as little or as much power as you need.

If you don’t want to shop for power that’s all good, Powershop isn’t a pre-pay service. We won’t cut you off. We’ll simply bill you for the power you’ve used at the end of your billing period each month. .

If you’ve used more power than you’ve purchased at the end of your billing period, we’ll just charge you the difference when your bill is due.

We sell energy in Powerpacks, which come in various dollar amounts, so you can pick and choose to suit your budget and how much power you need. We sell Special Packs from time to time, Top Up Packs, GreenPower Packs and Future Packs.

Every month we’ll send you your Powershop bill. This is an email with an attached PDF.

The attached PDF summarises:

• how much power you’ve used over your billing period;
• how much that power cost;
• what Powerpacks have been used;
• your meter reads; and
• whether or not you still have anything to pay on your account.

You can see all of your transactions and bills online in your account under the ‘Transactions’ tab.

More on what happens around the time of your Powershop bill.

You can add multiple properties under the same account to keep things hassle free and easy! Give us a call on 1800 462 668 and we’ll organise this for you.

When you tell us you’re moving property, we’ll ask for your move in date. We will do our best to get the power connected on that day. The power can be connected at any time on that day, so if you need it by a certain time, it might be best to get us to connect you the day before. We cannot connect power on public holidays or weekends.

In Victoria, most people have smart meters, which can be remotely connected. While this means we may be able to connect your power on the same day, the more notice you give us, the better. If you have a basic meter or a site that requires a physical connection, we may not be able to do a same day connection.

If you are in New South Wales, we need two business days’ notice to connect your power.

First things first: check that your main switch is in the ON position. Sometimes there can be a couple of main switches, so check inside your property and check at your meter — all main switches will need to be on. If you have checked your main switch, and you still don’t have any power, give us a call on 1800 462 668.

To ensure a smooth connection, there are a couple of things you can help us with!

If the power is currently disconnected at your property, you will need to ensure your main switch is in the off position for your power to be connected. If you don’t have access to the new property yet, contact your real estate agent and ask them to turn the main switch off. Don’t forget to turn the main switch back on when you move in!

If you’re moving into a new property and the power is currently on, you don’t need to worry about turning your main switch off.

We may need access to your physical meter. This means that if your meter is inside your house or behind any locked gates, doors or cupboards, we need to know about it. If we need access to your meter and we can’t reach it, we may not be able to connect your power.

If you know your property has been disconnected for more than 12 months, please let us know. You’ll need to provide us with a Certificate of Electrical Safety that has been signed off by a registered electrician.

All Powershop connections are free in the first instance — we will absorb the distributor costs. But if the distributor has to visit your property for a second time — for example, if access to your meter was obstructed — we will charge you for the second visit by passing on the distributor’s fees.

Powershop fees can be found here.

Yes! If you add any properties to your existing account, any existing credits or Powerpacks will be applied to the new properties as well.

When requesting a meter exchange your smart meter installation can take up to 15 business days or on a date agreed with you once we receive all the necessary information from you.

If shared fusing is discovered at the time of meter exchange, then the exchange timeframe will restart and the smart meter installation can up to an additional 30 business days or on a date agreed with you and the distributor. Shared fusing is where two or more properties share a common electricity connection point. This means an interruption of your power supply to carry out the meter exchange will also cause an interruption to one or more of your neighbours. Shared Fusing is generally not identified until the technician goes to site.

When requesting a smart meter for a new connection, the installation can take up to 6 business days after being informed that the connection service is complete or on a date agreed with you.

There can be some exceptions to the above timeframes including the meter location is not accessible, safe or ready for the meter to be installed.

Apart from the increased accuracy and the ability to be remotely read, if you’re a Powershop customer, a smart meter allows you to get even more out of our usage tools through the Powershop App and Online Account.

As info about your usage will be continuously measured, it means you’ll have access to almost live info about the electricity you’re using. That means you’ll be able to better manage your usage and make every day decisions to use less and save money. Most of our customers already have access to a lot of great features in the App and Online Account, but some have to manually enter their own meter reads to get a better picture of their usage between distributor reads.

With a smart meter, you won’t have to do this anymore.

In some cases, it may not be suitable to install a smart meter at your property.

This could be due to poor wiring, the current metering arrangement, the presence of asbestos or hazardous materials, evidence of meter tampering (which we’re required to report to regulators), or insufficient mobile reception at the meter.

If this is the case, we’ll contact you and make sure you understand our concerns.

Unfortunately not. Once the smart meter has been installed, it cannot be changed back to your old ‘basic’ or analogue meter.

No. Smart meters operate on a frequency that will not interfere with other equipment in the house.

Powershop has worked hard to find a way to roll out smart meters at no cost to the customer. The smart meter installation will be free for all standard meter installations.

However, if a non-standard meter installation is required, Powershop will levy a fee of no more than $100 to cover the cost of the installation.

Examples of non-standard meter installations could include where minor asbestos removal, fuse replacements and link installations are needed.

NMI stands for National Meter Identifier. It’s an 11 digit number that is unique to your property and you can find it on your electricity bill.

Please make sure this is correct when registering for a smart meter.

No. That’s the great thing about smart meters. They’re read remotely so no more house visits to get a manual meter reading.

No, your NMI will remain the same.

As usual, your energy distributor, your metering provider and your retailer (us) will have access to this data, which by law must be kept private.

Technically it’s okay for a tenant to arrange for installation of a smart meter.

However, seeing as it’s not your place, we’d encourage you to check before registering your interest.

This is also important if there is faulty wiring or any other issue at the property.

Great! Customers with solar power can still get a smart meter.

You’ll just need to make sure you let us know if your feed is Net or Gross.

Net meter means a bi-directional meter that measures two-way electricity flows and records them at least half hourly. Gross meter means a meter that measures the total amount of electricity generated by a renewable energy generator.

Smart meter installations usually take about 1 hour.

We’re expecting your power will need to be switched off for 30 to 60 minutes.

No, as long as the installer has access to the meter board then they can complete the installation without you being present at the property.

But if you’d like to be home during the installation, that’s fine too. Just let the installer know when they get in touch to confirm the appointment.

When thinking about whether you need to be home or not, consider security alarm systems and other appliances that may be affected by the power outage.

Smart meters differ from basic meters in a couple of ways. For starters, they measure your consumption with greater accuracy.

But more importantly, smart meters track your consumption every 30 minutes and are read remotely without your distributor having to come out to your property to take a manual reading, except in circumstances where an error occurs with the equipment, but this is rare.

If you have a smart meter your meter will send us half-hourly readings, once a day, so you shouldn’t need to read your meter at all. If you don’t have a smart meter you can enter meter readings as often as you like (although it is not essential for you to do so).

To enter your own reading, tap on ‘Read meter’ in Powershop’s mobile app or select the ‘Usage’ section in your desktop account.

\Entering your own meter readings lets you get the most out of your usage tools and helps you better understand your forecasted energy usage.

If you have a basic meter, we only receive your meter data every three months, which means your usage graphs aren’t accurate, and two out of every three of your bills are based on estimates (since your meter is only read every quarter). By entering meter reads you get better insight into your energy usage.

Regardless of whether or not you enter your own meter reading, your distribution company will still read it every three months or so, as long as there is clear access to your meter.

Safety first! Do not touch any part of your meter.

Digital meter: You read a digital meter from left to right not including numbers highlighted in red. The example shown here is 5973.

If your tariff gives you different usage options your meter may have two rows like shown. The top reading in this example is 1420, and the bottom reading is 971.

Dial meter: When reading this type of meter, always take the lower number if the needle is between two numbers, even though this may not be the closest number to the needle (taking into account that zero is considered greater than 9 when the needle lies between 9 and 0). Don’t forget to note the direction in which each dial is moving. The reading for the dial meter shown in this example is 4973.

If your dial meter has digits or dials that are red or highlighted they can be ignored. They are used for testing or represent decimal places.

Electronic meter: These displays show readings for more than one meter. You can view the readings by either pushing a button or scrolling automatically. The display will also show a total reading of the two or more meters combined. Please send us only the individual readings.

Smart meter: Smart meters generally have a number of displays that you’ll need to scroll through before you reach the total kilowatt hour usage number. Because smart meters vary so much, we recommend heading to your distributor’s website for instructions on reading your smart meter. Find your distributor here.

Be safe when you read your meter. If it’s up high, make sure that you reach it safely. If there are any loose or exposed wires in the cabinet, don’t touch them — call an electrician as soon as possible.

If you have a smart meter, your meter will send us your reading automatically. If your meter isn’t smart you can enter your own meter read. Log in to your account from you desktop or do it on Powershop’s mobile app.

From your desktop — You can enter a meter reading on your ‘Balance’ page. Click on ‘Enter a meter read’ under your usage graph (the shortcut).

Alternatively, go to ‘Usage’, select ‘Meter Readings’ then ‘Enter a meter read’ (you can also access a list of your previous readings here).

From your mobile — Select ‘Read meter’ about halfway down the main menu. Check out our handy torch button for reading your meter at night or in a dark spot.

That depends. If you have a smart meter we obtain your meter readings daily from your distribution company. We receive 48 half-hourly readings once each day. If you don’t have a smart meter then your distribution company will read your meter manually.

This typically occurs every three months.

If you have a Manually Read Interval Meter (MRIM), it will record and store your usage on a daily basis. However, we are only sent this data once each quarter when your distributor comes out and probes your meter for the data. This means that once per quarter you will be able to log in and check out your last three months of daily usage. Unfortunately, in between each quarterly reading, you won’t be able to see your daily usage. If you’re not sure if you have a MRIM, give us a call or send us an email.

Keep yourself and others away from any live wires. If it’s safe to do so, shut off the main switch. Call us on 1800 462 668 and we’ll help you troubleshoot any issues with your meter. We’ll put you in touch with your distributor if necessary.

Smart meters differ from basic meters in a couple of ways. For starters, they measure your consumption with greater accuracy.

But more importantly, smart meters track your consumption every 30 minutes and are read remotely without your distributor having to come out to your property to take a manual reading, except in circumstances where an error occurs with the equipment, but this is rare.

First up, please remember to be safe when looking at your meter. Make sure that you can reach it safely. If there are any loose or exposed wires in the cabinet don’t touch them — call an electrician as soon as possible.

Your meter will usually be on an outside wall of your house. Meters will generally be located at the point where the power enters your property so look up to see if you can see where the power line comes in from the road.

In some apartment and multi-dwelling buildings, meters will be grouped together. Make sure you’re looking at the correct meter for your unit or flat. Sometimes your meter can be difficult to access. If this is the case, don’t worry; we’ll estimate your meter readings between visits. Please don’t go breaking your neck trying to reach it!

There might be a couple of reasons for this.

If you don’t have a smart meter —you’ll need to enter your meter readings manually in your Powershop account, or wait for your distributor to read your meter (which usually happens at least every 3 months) and send us the reading to update your account.

If you do have a smart meter — it’s pretty normal to have up to one day’s worth of readings missing. The readings that are recorded in your Powershop account are usually 24 hours behind real time.

If you’re a few days behind on your meter readings, a technical glitch could be stopping your smart meter from communicating the information to your account. Email or call us on 1800 462 668 and we’ll get in touch with your distributor so that they can sort out any issues.

We can’t always guarantee meter readings. Sometimes bad weather can interfere with your meter’s signal. Also, the signal can be inconsistent in certain areas, especially rural locations.