Wyndham suburbs are among the top areas to have accessed the state government’s $250 Power Saving Bonus.
From July 1, residents seeking out energy deals on the Energy Compare website were able to pocket $250 for comparing energy offers.
Point Cook households were second in the state for the number of applications submitted for the bonus.
Vicki Grandison is one of the 10626 residents who applied, and said she used the bonus to help restock the pantry with a bigger shop for the week.
“My teenage daughter brought it up in conversation when we were discussing the family budget, she did the research on how to apply,” she said.
“We applied and received it…it was a two week turn around…[and] it was a bonus to help cover our rising fuel and food shopping costs.
“With the costs of living going through the roof in the last six months and wages not going up at the same rate, maybe a utilities price freeze [would] be of more benefit.”
Tarneit and Werribee also made the top ten list, with 8952 and 8274 applications respectively.
Tarneit resident Kris McIsaac encouraged others to take advantage of the opportunity, and said the bonus was “basically free money” and it “seemed silly not to apply”.
“The process was very easy to follow and only took 10 minutes. We just needed to put in some details from a previous bill and all the rates and usage info was automatically populated into the system,” they said.
“From there it gave us a range of alternative deals with simple explanations of their specific features.
“We ended up changing providers which was also a seamless process but you can apply for the $250 even if you don’t change.”
Across the municipality, 5804 Truganina households had applied for the bonus, 5536 in Hoppers Crossing, 2044 from Manor Lakes, in Williams Landing, 1455 residents had applied.
Werribee South, Mambourin and Laverton North had 309, 286 and 6 households apply respectively.
The $250 Power Saving bonus is available until June 30, 2023 and there are no caps on the number of households able to receive the one-off playment.
