Hundreds of thousands of Australian households are being charged electricity prices based on their single biggest point of usage across an entire month, fuelling claims power firms are using sneaky tactics to gouge consumers. An investigation by the ABC has found that soaring numbers of residential electricity customers with smart meters are being put on to so-called cost-reflective tariffs such as time-of-use and "flexible" rates. Among these flexible rates are what's known as demand tariffs, under which a customer's single highest point of demand for power from the grid – measured in 30-minute blocks — is used to ... (full story)