After spending more time at home during the pandemic, Rosemary Marcon noticed just how cold her Melbourne townhouse was and set about trying to make her home as energy-efficient as possible.
Along with new insulation and double-glazed windows, she hoped to get off gas and switch to electric heating, powered by rooftop solar panels.
But those plans were thwarted when she was told her roof was too small.
"It just kind of blew all the plans apart," Ms Marcon said.
Still keen to help the environment and pay a competitive rate, she researched how she could access renewable energy through her electricity retailer.
It is called green power, and it gives consumers the option of signing a deal where a retailer purchases energy from renewable sources.
Ms Marcon said it could be hard to understand how it works.
"It's all going into the grid and so you don't get to choose exactly what electricity comes to your house, but in terms of what I'm paying for, I'm paying for 100 per cent renewable energy," Ms Marcon said.
But she said it was not easy to find a deal.
"The information is kind of scattered all over the place," Ms Marcon said.
"It seems like it's way behind in terms of where the population's at, in terms of what it wants and needs.
"I'm retired and I've got time, but for a lot of people, they don't.
"And so they're just going with the easiest option [for their bill] and wanting to do more, but not knowing how to or knowing where to go to get it."
Green power price 'dispersion'
As electricity prices rise, advocates like Gavin Dufty from the St Vincent de Paul Society are worried that people who can not install rooftop solar will be unfairly impacted by rising power costs.
Rooftop solar generation can act as a buffer for rising electricity costs for households.
But, for a range of reasons, plenty of people cannot install solar. Ms Marcon, for example, does not have a suitable roof.
Mr Dufty also worries that people who can not access solar could be left behind in the renewable energy transition and stuck with higher bills.
"That's one of our biggest concerns, if all the heavy lifting [in terms of power bills] is being done by people who don't [own] a house, don't have money in their pockets to put solar on," he said.
"It should be worth looking at a green power deal for all those people, [including] renters, low-income households that can't afford to put solar on and they want to participate."
Mr Dufty said consumer demand could encourage energy companies to transition away from fossil fuels faster.
But he said part of the problem was — as Ms Marcon experienced — green power deals were not easy to find or compare.
"They should be able to get these offers and they should be easily discoverable and easily comparable, and currently they're not," he said.
"And that might explain why in 2010 there were about 800,000 households on these [green power] products, and now they're down to about 176,000, so that there's been a decline in these products and take-up of these products.
"At the same time that there's greater awareness and understanding that we all do need to decarbonise."
Mr Dufty has analysed current green power deals to find out what is happening in the market for consumers.
He found that among offers with 100 per cent green power, the average annual bill was the lowest in Victoria, at $1,835.
The highest was in South Australia, at $2,395 per year.
"There's huge dispersion in price, so some are quite competitive," he said.
"Some 100 per cent green is quite competitive to non-green products, some of the 100 per cent green are incredibly expensive — there's a big range in price.
"They're really confusing to actually work out, what you're getting and how much you're paying.
"And that confusion is in part because the Australian energy regulators and energy compare websites don't do the calculations about how much the green products cost.
"So it can be confusing, they're hard to find."
How to get the cheapest deal
Sarah McNamara from the Australian Energy Council, which represents energy retailers and generators, said the coming winter would be more expensive for consumers.
She said the most important thing was for consumers to make sure they were on the cheapest deal on the market.
"We recommend people pick up the phone and call their retailer to make sure they're on the cheapest deal," Ms McNamara said.
"If they've got a bit more time, go on to one of the government-run comparative sites and have a look across all of the retail offerings to find the best deal for circumstances."
Ms McNamara said it could be "tricky" to navigate green power deals on government sites.
"But in recent times, the government-run comparative sites have become easier to use," Ms McNamara said.
"Having said that, there's no getting around it, it's one of those boring administrative tasks where you've got to take your bill, sit down in front of your computer for 20 minutes or so and plug in your information and engage with the information that's there on the site in order to get the best value."
She said the existing system to identify green energy was working.
"To date, green energy has been part of a range of packages that different retailers have offered to their customers who are interested in it," Ms MacNamara said.
"Green offerings are identified on the government-run sites.
"I'm not aware of an option to standardise that in a way that would add better value.
"I think at the moment, it's an option available for customers who are very focused on knowing where their power comes from.
"Other customers should be reassured that around 26 per cent of our generation at the moment is coming from renewable energy."
The Australian Energy Regulator said it was considering ways to improve the advice provided to customers, especially via the government comparison websites.
It also said customers should contact their retailer to ensure they were getting the best deal.
