Payment plans – FAQs | Help and Support

Summary

This article covers common questions about setting up, changing or cancelling a payment plan, making payment plan payments and getting financial assistance if you need it.

FAQs by topic

Set up | Change or cancel | Make payments | Financial difficulty

Set up

What types of payment plans can I set up?

We offer the following payment plans to suit a range of needs, including:

ongoing energy use payment plans, which cover the cost of your predicted, ongoing energy use in weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments
debt and ongoing energy use payment plans, which combine existing debt and ongoing energy use into smaller, more frequent payments, spread out over up to 24 months
short-term, debt-only payment plans, which allow you to pay debt off in smaller, regular payments, generally before your next bill

There are other options if you are having trouble paying your bills. Find out more about our financial assistance options or contact us.

How do I set up a payment plan?

See Set up a payment plan.

Can I set up one payment plan for all my accounts?

No, payment plans are specific to an account. For example, if you have an electricity and a natural gas account and you’d like to pay them both with a payment plan, you’ll set up a payment plan for each account.

How do you work out my payment plan instalments?

For ongoing energy use payment plans, we estimate your energy costs for the next 12 months based on your past usage, then average out your payments at the frequency you choose – weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

For debt and ongoing energy use payment plans, we estimate usage in the same way, but also add the debt amount to it, then average the payments over a period of up to 24 months.

If you set up a short-term, debt-only payment plan for an active account, you’ll need to pay the debt off before we issue your next bill. If your account is closed, we’ll agree on an end date with you when we set up your plan.

If I have an overdue balance, can I include the debt and ongoing usage in my payment plan?

Contact us to talk about rolling debt into a payment plan that also includes ongoing energy use. This bundles together any debt with predicted, ongoing use, and averages the costs over a period of up to 24 months.

Or, if you can, you could pay off your debt first and then set up an ongoing energy use payment plan through My Account, to average out your future bills and pay them in weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments.

Note that if you're having trouble paying your bills, you can read more about our financial assistance options or contact us.

Change or cancel

Can I change or cancel my payment plan?

If you have an ongoing energy use payment plan and there’s no debt on your account, you can change or cancel it in My Account or the Origin app. See Change or cancel a payment plan to:

change your payment method
change how often you pay
change the payment start date
cancel your payment plan

Please contact us for all other changes, like changing your instalment amount. Our energy specialists will be happy to help.

Make payments

How can I pay my payment plan?

During the set-up process, you can choose to pay when the payment instalments are due or by direct debit using a bank account, debit or credit card.

After we’ve set up your payment plan, we’ll send you a list of the instalment amounts and the dates your instalments are due. We’ll still send you your bills so you can see the amounts charged and payments made through your payment plan for the bill period.

How often do I have to make payment plan payments?

You choose:

the start date of your payment plan (which needs to be within 30 days of setting up your plan)
how often you’d like to pay – weekly, fortnightly or monthly

I've missed a payment – what happens now?

Missing one payment triggers a reminder to let you know you need to pay the missed instalment before the next one is due. If you continue to miss payments, we may cancel your payment plan.

It's important to contact us as soon as possible if you’re struggling to make payments.

Can I arrange a payment after a specific date?

If it’s one-off situation and there’s no debt on your account but a bill is due soon, you can request a payment extension. This gives you another two weeks to pay.

Otherwise, just contact us as soon as possible. We’ll look at your account and let you know what we can do. We may offer to revise your payment plan, roll in any debt to your payment plan, or help you access financial support options if you’re experiencing financial difficulty.

Can I add money to my account without having a payment plan?

Yes, you can do this through My Account or the Origin app. Here’s how:

Log in to view your dashboard
Select the Make a payment link in the account you want to pay
Follow the prompts

You can also set up a recurring payment through your bank account if that suits you best.

Whichever way you do it, any amounts you pay into your energy account come off your bill for that account – and if you’re in credit, the credit will go towards the next bill for that account.

If you experience financial difficulty

I'm struggling to pay my bill. What can I do?

If it’s one-off situation and there’s no debt on your account but a bill is due soon, you can request a payment extension. This gives you another two weeks to pay.

If you want to pay off your debt and pay for your ongoing usage over an extended period of time (up to 24 months), you can set up a payment plan. If your debt is below $2000 you may be eligible to set it up yourself via My Account or Origin app. For debt over $2000, you need to contact us to set up a payment plan.

If you are experiencing financial difficulty, it’s important to contact us as soon as you can so we can help. Depending on the state you live in, you’re entitled to support under the Victorian Payment Difficulty Framework or you may be eligible for support under our Power On program.

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