Urgent & Weekend Electricity Connections - How It Works In Australia

How quickly can I get an urgent electricity connection?

Unfortunately the answer to this question is ‘it depends’. The good news is that it only depends on a couple things, which are easy for you to figure out. The first thing is whether your house is fitted out with a smart meter - a device used by electricity suppliers to accurately monitor energy usage and remotely control your connection. If you live in Victoria, then this isn’t something you’ll have to worry about, because every residential property in the state should already be using a smart meter. Even if you’re outside of Victoria, there’s still a pretty good chance that your property will be using a smart meter, as all new and replacement meters have been required to be smart meters across the country since December 2017.

Who does same-day connections and how expensive are they?

The next thing to consider is the time at which you get in touch with the electricity retailer. Most energy companies have a ‘same-day connection cut off’, after which they’ll usually only be able to offer a next-day connection. Below is a table of different energy suppliers and their same-day cut off times. Note that electricity suppliers are different to retailers - retailers are the power companies which you purchase plans from, meaning you can choose your retailer. Suppliers on the other hand have allocated areas that they serve, meaning the supplier you’re using will depend on where your property is.

Bear in mind that these are the supplier’s cut off times, which means the retailer still needs time to process your application and send the connection request to the relevant supplier. For this reason, it would be wise to get in touch with your chosen electricity retailer at least an hour before the supplier’s cut off time if you’re desperate for the connection to go through on the same day.

Another thing to consider is that the prices listed here are charged to the retailer, and so the price that reaches you may be slightly different. In addition, these times and prices are subject to change (time of writing: 27 March 2023), so it's best to double check with your retailer if the connection is possible.

How do I get my electricity connected now?

Refer to the list above, figure out which energy supplier services your area, and find an energy retailer who works with that specific supplier, double check that same-day cut offs haven’t changed for this supplier/retailer, double check that the same-day connection fee hasn’t changed for this supplier/retailer, wait on hold for an hour, and hopefully secure a connection.

Or you can call HOOD, and we’ll have one of our connection specialist do all of the finicky stuff for you. Simply tell us where you need your connection, and we’ll spell out your options for you, help you choose a suitable plan and organise your connection for you. Plus, HOOD has live feeds with our electricity retailers, so we’re able to monitor the status of your connection in real time. That means if anything goes wrong, you’ll be the first to know! Give HOOD’s team a call now on 1300 242 824 to get your same-day connection sorted.

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