From July 2022, community residents of Amata, Iwantja, Kalka, Kaltjiti, Kanpi, Mimili, Murputja, Nyapari, Pipalyatjara, Pukatja, Umuwa, Watinuma, Yunyarinyi, Yalata, Oak Valley, and associated homelands began paying for electricity. For reference, these customers are known as Community Prepayment Customers.

As with other remote communities throughout Australia, Community Prepayment Customers pay for the electricity they use through a Prepayment Meter System.

Information about the education program can be found at:

Your retailer, Cowell Electric Supply, needs to supply you with information about what they legally need to do when selling you electricity. This information is set out in the Terms and conditions for sale or supply (PDF, 459.5 KB)

A Written Disclosure Statement (PDF, 186.3 KB) is a summary of the Connection and Supply Contract. A simplified version in Pitjantjatjara and English can be found below:

It is important that you understand this information and what is required of you as a customer.

You can also listen to this information in Pitjantjatjara, in the Information recordings in language section below.

If you have any questions about payment, contact Cowell Electric on 1800 485 788. If you do not believe they have been able to help, there are other people you can talk to. Further information is available in the Dispute resolution section on the Contact information page.

Community Prepayment Customers utilising the Prepayment Meter Card system have the following payment options through retailer Cowell Electric:

  • Local community store
  • Web portal
  • Centrelink Direct Payment (Centrepay)
  • Credit/Debit Card payment over the phone

To set up a Centrelink Direct Payment or scheduled payment call Cowell Electric on 1800 485 788

Electricity tariffs for RAES Cowell Electric customers are reviewed by the Minister for Energy and Mining on an annual basis.

If you are having difficulty putting credit on your meter, or are having financial difficulty, please contact Cowell Electric as soon as possible on 1800 485 788.

If you hold an eligible card, receive an eligible Centrelink payment, or meet low-income provisions, you may be eligible for Government Concessions.

To find out if you meet the criteria go to the Concessions SA website.

The Energy Concession and Cost of Living Concession can assist households with electricity costs. As part of a special agreement with Concessions SA, all Community Prepayment Customers will not be required to go through an application process for the Energy Concession, this will be applied directly to the meter.

Customers experiencing financial hardship

The Energy Advisory Service provides free independent information on saving energy in your home, calculating appliance running costs and other general information.

The ESCOSA Code identifies a prepayment customer as potentially being in hardship (and therefore unable to pay for electricity) when the following occurs:

  • the customer informs the retailer that they are experiencing payment difficulties, or
  • when the retailer’s prepayment management system identifies that a customer has self-disconnected three or more times in any three-month period for longer than 240 minutes on each occasion.

In addition, RAES considers extended self-disconnection (24 hours or more) is also a potential indicator of customer hardship.

It is the responsibility of the Retailer (Cowell Electric) to monitor customers and contact those who meet the potential hardship criteria.

Special arrangements have been established to ensure community prepayment customers have the support they need to stay connected while becoming accustomed to paying for electricity.

Details of these requirements are set out in the Prepayment Monitoring and Reporting Policy (PDF, 209.3 KB)

Daily monitoring of customer self-disconnections will be undertaken by the contracted Retailer, utilising data from the smart meter operating system.

The following actions will be carried out by the Retailer for customers who have been identified as meeting the hardship criteria:

  • Call the primary / secondary account holder to determine reason for disconnection.
  • If contact is possible, take necessary steps to resolve the self-disconnection.
  • If communication is not possible, the Retailer will engage the assistance of the Home Energy Support Officer (HESO) who may visit the premises if necessary and other contact methods are unsuccessful.

The HESO will undertake discussions with the customer to determine the reason for disconnection and assist, if required, by offering:

  • Education about how to pay for electricity
  • Education about energy efficiency
  • Information about additional available concessions
  • Referral to financial counselling support and additional assistance to be re-connected.

In the interest of customer protection, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) requires that licenced retailers operating a pre-payment metering system establish a consultation group to allow retailers to share information with, and receive feedback from, pre-payment consumers and relevant consumer groups regarding the pre-payment metering system.

The Remote Area Energy Supply (RAES) Prepayment meter customer consultation group is administered by the Department for Energy and Mining on behalf of the RAES retailers, and includes representatives from each retailer, ESCOSA, interested community/consumer organisations and pre-payment customers.

Given the remoteness and disparity of the communities serviced by the RAES scheme, most of the group interaction is conducted via an online forum, with quarterly (online) meetings as required.

Customers or community/consumer groups that are interested in joining the Prepayment meter customer consultation group should contact their retailer or the Department for Energy and Mining for further details at DEM.RAES@sa.gov.au

MoneyMob Talkabout provided education to community prepayment customers on utilising the applicable functions of the smart meter. MoneyMob Talkabout visited each household in each community to provide this education and additional information packages were also provided to households.

You can visit the Pawa Atunmankunytjaku website to find out more about the education program.

Here is a guide on how to use the smart meters:

There is also information about how to pay for electricity and how to use your meter card:

Below is information in Pitjantjatjara language from the Community Prepayment - Written Disclosure Statement (Pitjantjatjara) (PDF, 521.5 KB)

Click which one you'd like to listen to, and your browser will play the audio file.