A good deal has a shelf life.
Switching gets the win. Keeping the win is a different job — one almost nobody does, because it means re-checking a market that reprices constantly.
How good deals go bad
- Discount expiry: that "first year" rate quietly lapses to the base rate at month 13.
- Repricing: retailers adjust plan rates — July 1 especially — and existing customers absorb it.
- Market movement: new offers launch monthly. Standing still is a choice with a price.
None of this appears as a line item saying “you’re now overpaying.” It shows up as a bill that’s $40 heavier and a shrug.
What quarterly monitoring actually does
- Re-runs your numbers — your usage profile against the current official AER/EME plan dataset for your zone.
- Re-verifies the recommendation live — the top plan is checked against the retailer's current CDR listing, not a stale copy.
- Watches concessions — values and eligibility rules change with budgets; changes get flagged.
- Times the seasons — spring rate-rise season, summer solar buyback, autumn plan drift, renewal audit.
The alert bar is deliberately high: you hear from your counsellor when there’s a material saving or a change that affects you — not weekly “engagement”.
Why this is the product, not a feature
A one-off check is worth one bill cycle. The reason Energy Counsellor costs $29 for a year rather than $29 for a report is that the watching is the hard, valuable part — it’s the difference between losing weight and keeping it off. (And renewal is a deliberate opt-in click, never an auto-charge — terms.)
Check once. Stay checked all year.
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Related: How switching works · Why is my bill so high?