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Power bill double-dip trick that could save you $390: 'No-brainer loophole'

Learn how to beat spiralling electricity costs by using 'cashback stacking'.

Joel Gibson
Updated ·3-min read

Power costs are hitting hard and thousands of Aussie households will be receiving their biggest electricity bills ever right now.

The combination of a hot summer, air-con and the biggest price hikes on record in 2023 will take our energy costs to new highs. So, we have to do whatever we can this year to find a saving.

I’ve already written about how some hardcore money-savers are “collecting credits” by switching from one energy provider to another and sometimes scoring months of free electricity. But there’s another loophole you can add to that strategy. It’s called the ‘cashback stack’.

Electricity bills on background of powerlines.
Power bills keep going up but there are ways to recoup some of your costs. (Getty/Supplied)

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A cashback stack is when you can double-dip: getting a cashback offer from one of the new breed of cashback sites, plus a credit or discount from the utility provider you’re switching to.

For example, right now, until Thursday February 29, you can use cashback stacks to get up to $390 back on energy plans, and up to $274 on NBN plans. Here’s how it works:

Energy ‘stack’

NBN ‘stack’

It’s worth noting that you can get the Simply Energy or Optus NBN deals direct from those providers. But to get both the cashback and the credit/discount examples above, you need to be sure to click through from the cashback website to a site called “eConnex” that hosts the Simply Energy and Optus deals.

These cashback stacks come and go for short periods so they will end on Thursday. However, if you miss out, it’s worth keeping an eye on the latest cashback offers in case they return. Online bargain forums such as OzBargain are a good place to watch out for cashback offers.

Also by Joel Gibson:

Cashback websites get paid a fee by thousands of stores or services if you click through from their site.

They then give some of that fee back to you, which accrues in your online cashback account until you decide to withdraw it.

But, every now and then, they double up: there’s a cashback deal plus a discount with the end provider. I do some work with the market leader Cashrewards, which is why I often notice these ‘cashback stacks’.

There are now several websites offering cashback and it’s become so popular that banks, such as CBA and Westpac, have started offering cashback too via their apps.

I’m not a fan of buying things you don’t need just because you’re being offered a bit of cashback but it’s a no-brainer if you’re shopping online anyway - and some of them now cover dozens of essential services, not just fashion and beauty brands.

In a cost-of-living crisis, when power bills are through the roof, we need to find every tool we can to save a buck.

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