Rising bills fail to pull plug on Geelong’s Christmas lights displays

Andrew Mathieson
A SERIES of overcharged electricity bills has failed to stop one of Geelong’s iconic Christmas displays lighting up again.
Jeannette Smith said her home in Norlane’s Eagle Parade would glow again this Christmas after attracting hundreds of onlookers nightly over the past 12 festive seasons.
Other Christmas display enthusiasts told the Independent, which is running a Christmas lights competition with radio station BayFM, that they would also defy rising power costs to decorate their homes again.
“We’ve had trouble because the electricity man won’t come in to read our meter with the dog out the front, so they estimate it by the highest bill of the year. They’ve done that three times in a row, so we’ve been overcharged three times this year,” Mrs Smith said
“But that still hasn’t stopped us.”
Mrs Smith was investigating ways to save on power costs for this year’s display.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret: I have a lot of battery lights this year.”
Chris Foreman, of Corio’s Colorado Drive, had “shut down” her windows since the end of September to work on a Santa’s workshop theme this year.
Ms Foreman had spent recent years lighting up her front yard to raise money for Cancer Council Victoria after overcoming the disease in 2001.
She was unconcerned about her display’s impact on her power bill this year.
“It doesn’t worry me. Just to see the smile on a family’s face is enough,” Ms Foreman said.
“We’ve had so many kids coming and watching us build it that they are so into the spirit of Christmas, so why would you not do it.”