'How am I going to pay this?': NT customers speak out over delayed power bills

When Gemma Turner finally received a power bill after waiting almost 12 months, her jaw dropped.

As a single mother of six young children, working full-time as a nurse in Darwin, she was, like many, already feeling the strain of daily living costs.

Then a power bill amounting to more than $6,000 arrived.

A year earlier Ms Turner had moved into a new house, and as the months raced by, she realised she had not received an electricity bill in a while.

Worried, she began making enquiries.

"I got an email probably a couple of weeks later with the bill and about a month to pay it, and it was over $6,000," she said.

"My jaw dropped. I thought 'oh my gosh, how am I going to pay this'?"

Ms Turner is one of thousands of Jacana Energy customers in the Northern Territory caught up in an energy bill bungle that has left people with debts into the thousands and questioning how they will pay them off.

The scale of the situation was revealed last month during NT Budget Estimates, when Jacana, the Territory's main energy retailer, conceded that about 5,000 customers had been affected by billing delays.

Jacana Energy declined an interview request by the ABC, but in a statement a spokesperson said the issue lay with Power and Water Corporation (PWC) — also owned by the NT government — and its ability to read electricity meters following the implementation of a new smart meter system.

"The introduction of this system affected the flow of meter data and resulted in billing delays for approximately 5,000 Jacana Energy customers," the Jacana Energy spokesperson said.

PWC is responsible for maintaining energy infrastructure, distributing electricity and providing meter reading data to energy retailers in the Territory, but has had issues with its smart meters since their multi-million dollar rollout began.

In recent weeks, the ABC has been inundated with accounts from Jacana Energy customers who have been hit with massive catch-up power bills after months of billing delays.

Some of those customers have also questioned why they have been receiving unexpectedly high bills that show large discrepancies in power use between billing cycles.

The NT government also raised power prices by 5.3 per cent at the beginning of this month, adding to the financial strain.

On Tuesday, Integrity and Ethics Commissioner Peter Shoyer, who took on the role of the NT's anti-corruption watchdog and ombudsman last year, said his office was aware of the Jacana billing issues and had received a number of complaints.

Huge discrepancies in electricity bills

For the past year-and-a-half, power bills at Katie Streader's Darwin home — where she lives with her partner and two children — have varied significantly each quarter.

After a $346 power bill in early 2025, charges soared to more than $1,400 the following quarter. The bill then fell to $352 in October, before climbing again to $1,166 in January this year and $1,559 in April. The April bill was an estimated read.

"The discrepancies have been huge," she said.

"It just didn't make sense. We had family staying with us when we had the lower bill and then we were away in the time we had the really high one."

Ms Streader said her and her partner spoke to an electrician who could not find any issues and told them even if there had been a faulty appliance, it would be very unlikely to spark such a massive increase.

When she enquired with Jacana, she said the company could not explain the inconsistencies.

"Jacana said to us 'you can have your [smart] meter checked' … but that would be at a cost of $600 if it came back and showed it wasn't faulty," she said.

"You see the email come through and your heart drops a bit and you brace yourself for what you're going to open and find."

Almost 5,500 cases resolved, PWC says

A PWC spokesperson said it had made changes to its smart meter system and resolved all of the cases identified by Jacana.

In explaining the issue, the spokesperson said some of the bill delays were linked to a technology upgrade completed last year that was a requirement for PWC to meet the National Electricity Rules.

"During that upgrade, some smart meters were not recognised by the new system, so meter data was not automatically sent to retailers for them to issue bills," the PWC spokesperson said.

"We have resolved all of the almost 5,500 cases escalated to us by Jacana Energy, representing around 6 per cent of its customers.

"We became aware of this after retailers identified some customers had not received bills. Once identified, resolving the issue became an immediate priority.

"We introduced a dedicated escalation process for retailers, increased resources, visited individual properties where required, and made changes to the system to ensure all meters are correctly captured."

PWC did not respond directly to questions about why some people were receiving higher power bills, but said smart meters went through "extensive testing" to ensure they accurately recorded electricity use.

"If there is a temporary communications issue, the meter continues to record electricity use but cannot send the data," the PWC spokesperson said.

"When this happens, an estimated reading based on previous usage may be used until communications are restored. Once restored, actual meter data is received and any difference automatically reconciled."

While PWC says it has worked hard to rectify the issue, families like Ms Turner's are still facing months of anxiety.

Ms Turner said she had been able to negotiate a payment plan with Jacana, which she estimates will take another year to pay off.

But all the while, additional power bills keep rolling in.

"I feel quite anxious about the total sum and I'm just constantly thinking how I'm going to pay it off,"

she said.