Why is my first bill higher than expected?

It is possible that your first bill may look high initially.  If your first bill is higher than your monthly cap access fee, it may be a combination of 2 things:

·         This is your first bill for the service so there are 2 access fees (more on this below)

·         Excess Usage during the pro rata period (more on this below)

1.        This is your first bill for the service so there are 2 access fees:

As is norm in the industry and as per the Terms and Conditions, your access fee is always billed in advance, while your usage (or excess usage) is billed in arrears.

As we have not charged your access fee when you first sign up the service with us, your first bill will contain 2 access fee components:

·         Pro Rata amount to cover you for the period in this billing cycle you were with us

·         Access Fee to cover you for the month ahead

You can see these 2 access fee components on your statement under Capped Charges.

If you have an Endeavour or Discovery plan, you will find the Data Bolt On access fees under the section Data Bolt On.

Please note; all charges displayed on the statement are exclusive of GST. So a $20 access fee will appear as $18.18.

2.        Excess usage during the pro rata period:

As your first billing cycle is pro rata, your cap allowance is also pro rata.

This means that you get a proportion of the full cap allowance for the part of the month you were with us.

The easiest way to work out the pro rata cap allowance is to take the ratio of your cap access fees and multiply this by your full cap allowance.  For example, let’s presume you are on an Apollo 20 and joined half way through the month, you will see the following:

·         Cap Access Fee – Pro Rata - $9.09 (remember charges are displayed ex GST)

·         Cap Access Fee – Month Ahead - $18.18

·         Therefore the Pro Rata ratio = 9.09/18.18 = 50%

·         Therefore your Cap Allowance during the Pro Rata period = 50% x $300 = $150 – which will be displayed on your statement as $136.36 ex GST