Electricity Bill Distribution – April 2024

Norfolk Island Regional Council (NIRC) is distributing quarterly electricity bills (January 1, 2024 - March 31, 2024) as well as monthly electricity bills (March 1, 2024 – March 31, 2024) in April.

Billing System

All customer bills will be produced in the BESY billing system (even for those customers still on a legacy meter). If a service has had a time of use (TOU) meter installed prior to 31/3/2024, bills will be generated from the electronic metering data. Alternatively, accounts with legacy meters have already had their manual meter reading taken by NIRC staff and will be billed accordingly.

Electricity Tariff

Electricity tariffs applied to a customer’s account depend upon the type of meter installed at the service location(s), whether a new time of use meter has already been installed and, if so, the date of its installation. There are three scenarios:

  • Meter installed prior to Jan 1, 2024

    The dynamic tariff structure will be applied to the service for the entire billing cycle.

  • Meter installed after Jan 1, 2024 and before Mar 31, 2024

    The legacy ($0.80/kWh) tariff will be applied to the period when the service had a legacy electricity meter. The dynamic tariff structure will be applied from the installation of the time of use meter through the end of the billing cycle.

  • Meter installed from Mar 31, 2024 onwards

    The legacy ($0.80/kWh) tariff will be applied to the service for the entire 1/1/24 – 31/3/24 billing cycle.

Note: Both legacy and time of use meter consumption information is reported in aggregate terms

Manual Meter Readings

Council and BESY are in the final stretch of rolling out the new TOU electricity meters. The project team is still working through issues with 80 of these new meters. This will require a manual reading of the 80 affected meters to ensure the accuracy of the data collected and associated bills. We are aiming to have these readings completed this month and will be communicating with the impacted customers.

Online Portal Access

The enhanced BESY online portal to manage your account and view consumption data is still being optimised to allow for the best customer experience, hence delaying its rollout. We will notify you of when it becomes available. In the interim, the current portal allows customers to review account billing history and make payments.

Closing Balances from Prior Billing System

Any outstanding balances or credits on customer accounts in Council’s old billing system have been rolled over into the new billing system and will appear in the “Account balance migration from prior system” line of the NIRC/BESY invoice. If you need more information on the underlying charges constituting these outstanding balances, please contact Customer Care.

Note: The “Opening Balance” line is used if a prior period NIRC/BESY invoice is still outstanding. The easiest way to determine if you have an outstanding NIRC/BESY invoice is to use the online portal or contact Customer Care.

BPAY

Invoices issued by Council’s new BESY billing system (with the NIRC and BESY branding) have new BPAY numbers. If you haven’t already done so, please update your BPAY instructions if you receive an invoice from the new billing system. As your account in the old system has been closed, BPAY payments using the prior instructions will result in significant delays in posting payments to your account.

Please make all payments to the new BPAY instructions, even for past due bills issued from the prior billing system.

Generation Payments to Customers

For eligible customers with a time of use meter on the new tariff structure, BESY will issue generation payments within 30 days of bills being distributed. If you are eligible for a generation payment, BESY will contact you to obtain your nominated account details.

Bill Due Date

For all electricity bills issued by NIRC for the billing period of January 1, 2024 – March 31, 2024, customers will have at least three weeks to pay from the billing date displayed on the invoice.

This new billing cycle is another important milestone for the energy transition on Norfolk Island as lower electricity tariffs are passed through to residents and businesses due to the uptake of solar and batteries. We thank you once again for your continuous support in this essential process.

If you have any questions regarding the energy transition, including your new electricity bill, please email connectbesyenergy or reach out to Customer Care.