Bill Hero sends an email with a summary of the results found for each bill processed, which includes Bill price, and Comparison price.
Bill price is the final price displayed on your bill, showing the amount you need to pay, or the amount your account is in credit for that bill cycle.
Comparison price is a value calculated by Bill Hero that represents the charges associated with the current bill period. Comparison price include consumption and supply charges, and any incentives, and discounts that may also apply to your bill. We use Comparison price to compare your bill against all the other plans available and relevant for you in the market.
Generally, the Bill price and Comparison price will be the same value, but not always.
Here's why these can sometimes display different values.
Balance brought forward
If there was a credit or debit balance on your account at the start of the billing period, then the final bill price will include that credit or debit.
Bill Hero compares on the charges and credits accrued during the billing period, independently of the debit or credit balance for your account at the start of the billing period. We do not include the balance brought forward in the comparison price.
Prepayments
It's becoming increasingly common that the most competitively priced plans include a prepayment component. Bill Hero bases the comparison on the costs associated with your actual consumption over the billing period, regardless if you've pre-paid for some or all of that consumption.
Concessions
Concession schemes vary by state, and are dynamically calculated on the base bill price rather than a fixed concession amount.
This means that Bill Hero cannot assume the dollar value of a concession present in your bill will also apply to the alternative plans we calculate pricing for.
Bill Hero handles this by adding-back any concession present in your bill to find the base price, then we compare on that base price. This allows us to find the best-priced plan for you, excluding concessions.
Your eligibility for your concession will not change no matter which retailer and plan you switch to, but the dollar value for your concession credit under that new plan will be different.
The best-priced plan excluding concession will still be the best-priced plan after the concession has been recalculated and applied.
Bill Hero treats the Queensland Electricity asset ownership dividend as a concession.
Once-off fees and credits
Your bill can include various one-time fees and charges including credit card processing fees, meter reconfiguration fees, late payment fees, etc. It can also include one-time credits like welcome credits.
These kinds of fees and credits do not relate to your consumption or bill period duration, and by definition, they will not apply to future bills, because they are 'one-time' elements.
We do not include these kinds of fees and credits in the comparison price