<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-27/electricity-power-bills-unreadable-for-thousands-of-australians/102625208>
'Like many Australians, Ria Andriani is curbing spending to cope with rising
living costs.
The Blue Mountains resident, a writer at
ABC Classic, wants the best power
prices.
"What am I getting charged for, when am I getting charged?" Ms Andriani, who
has been blind since childhood, said.
"What is the best time to use electricity for household tasks?"
But her power company was sending her bills she could not read, in the form of
PDFs incompatible with screen reader software.
The 33-year-old asked for a better format and while the company told her they
would look into it, nothing further came of her request.
"Without knowing the details in the bill itself, it is really hard to lower the
bills," she said.
"I just feel I should be able to sign up like any other Australian, and get my
bill in a format I can read."
She is not alone in experiencing problems with digital bills.
Utility companies often email bills to customers as PDFs, but many cannot be
accessed with the technology used by people who are blind or have low vision.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
