What is Pro rata?
We want to clear up any confusion around the term Pro Rata. When you sign up with us, you’re billed your monthly access fee (plan and handset costs, if that applies) in advance. Any usage charges, be it calls, texts, data or value-added services i.e. travel packs are billed in arrears.
Pro rata means proportional, and in the Optus sense of the word, Pro Rata is a charge incurred for a product/service over a particular time-period, which practically means a charge for a part of a month, depending on when you signed up for a new service and your assigned bill cycle date.
We often get questions here on Yes Crowd like:
“Why has my bill come so soon?” or “Why are there repeated recurring charges with different invoice periods?”
In short, you’re being charged for a proportion of the month and for the first month in advance, and you can expect your next bill to be less. We’ll be using our new simplified mobile bills for our examples, so if your account number still starts with an 8, 9 or 10 you can find some handy tips here.
Click on a link below to learn how pro rata and month in advance charges affect the way that you're billed by Optus:
- New to Optus and just received your first bill? Here's what you need to know.
- My first bill after adding a new service to my existing Optus account.
- My first bill after recontracting or changing my rate plan.
- My bill after adding a VAS service i.e. travel packages.
- My bill after disconnecting my service or changing service ownership
New to Optus and just received your first bill? Here's what you need to know
If you’re a brand-new customer to Optus with no existing services (welcome!), the day you go active is your bill cycle date. You can expect to receive your first bill within the following days after signing up. That’ll be a month in advance charge from the day you’ve become active on the Optus Network.
- Your mobile service number
- Your plan: Your rate plan as of your existing bill period. You’ll also find your plan ID, which can be used to find a copy of your plan critical information summary
- Month in advance charge for your new plan: You’re charged a month in advance between billing period 15/05/18 – 14/06/18. That’s the full value of your new rate plan
- Handset repayment: on the new plan: In this case that’s $5.00 for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Black handset.
What to expect on your bill after adding a new service to your account
If you added an additional service to an existing Optus account, the gap between your service activation and your existing billing cycle is your pro rata billing period. You’re charged a portion of your plan fee & the full cost of your plan in advance.
- Your plan: Your rate plan as of your existing bill period. You’ll also find your plan ID, which can be used to find a copy of your plan critical information summary
- Pro rata usage on new rate plan: Now, the new plan took over on the 08/05/18. You’re charged for usage on the new plan ($44.00 Promo Plus) between the date the new plan took over and your existing bill cycle (14thof each month)
- Month in advance charge for your new plan: You’re charged a month in advance between billing period 15/05/18 – 14/06/18. That’s the full value of your new rate plan
- Handset repayment: on the new plan: In this case that’s $5.00 for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Gold handset
- Usage Charges: Any usage charges between your service sign up date and your existing bill cycle (if you’ve stayed within your plan allowance, this amount should be $0.00)
What to expect on your bill after re-contracting or changing my plan
If you've changed plans or re-contracted part way through the month, the bill you’ll receive after the change will include usage and charges leftover from your old plan as well as usage and charges from the date that your new plan took over.
- Your plan: Your rate plan as of your existing bill period. You’ll also find your plan ID, which can be used to find a copy of your plan critical information summary
- Mid-month event: A description of a significant change that’s happened mid-month
Credit back for unused portion of old rate plan: You’ll receive a credit back for the unused portion of your rate plan. - As you’ve already paid for your $35.00 My Plan Plus SIM only plan in advance. We credit back the unused portion of your plan, which is a $8.16. If we do the math, that’s $35.00 divided by the number of days within the calendar month (30), multiplied by the number of unused days (7) = 8.16
- Pro rata usage on new rate plan: Now, the new plan took over on the 08/05/18. You’re charged for usage on the new plan ($44.00 Promo Plus) between the date the new plan took over and your billing cycle (14th of each month)
- Month in advance charge for your new plan: You’re charged a month in advance between billing period 15/05/18 – 14/06/18. That’s the full value of your new rate plan
- Handset repayment: on the new plan: In this case that’s $5.00 for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Gold handset
My bill after adding a value added service i.e. travel packs
- The Optus Travel Pack charge will appear as a charge for days purchased during that invoices bill cycle. In this example, the customer added a 7-day Optus Travel pack on the 23/07/18. The customer has been assigned a bill cycle of the 5th of each month. As the travel pack was applied and used during this bill period, you’ll see the full charge $70.00 charge on your bill.
- If you’ve added a 7-day Travel pack on the 3rd of the month
- You’d have purchased 2 days in one bill cycle and 5 in the next. This will show as ‘Travel Pack 2 of 7 days’ with a corresponding $20.00 charge for the one bill cycle and the remaining 5 days ($50.00 charge) will appear on the next bill.
My bill after disconnecting my service or changing service ownership
It’s rare that we’ll see a customer cancel their service on the day of their billing cycle. There’s often the misunderstanding that you’ll receive a credit back for the initial month-in-advance payment they’d made when signing up or changing their rate plan.This isn’t necessarily the case. You’ll only receive a credit for the unused portion of your plan.
- Your plan: Your rate plan as of your existing bill period. You’ll also find your plan ID, which can be used to find a copy of your plan critical information summary
- Credit back for unused portion of old rate plan: In the above example, the customer has been assigned a bill cycle of the 10th of each month. Now, the service has been cancelled as of the 9th of July. If we go back to the bill received for the previous month, you’ll have already paid the period 10th of June - 9th of July in advance. You’ll therefore receive a credit back $2.33 for the portion of your plan (1 day) that was unused
- Usage Charges: Any usage charges between your service sign up date and your existing bill cycle (if you’ve stayed within your plan allowance, this amount should be $0.00)
FAQS
Q: What If I’ve disconnected just after I’ve received my last invoice?
A: You’ll be charged pro rata for any usage incurred between your bill cycle and your disconnection. If you cancelled the service on the 17th of July. You’ll be charged for three days of usage and receive a credit for remaining unused days.
Q: What if I have remaining credits on the account, will I receive a refund?
A: Yes, we’ll always attempt to process your refund through your existing payment means i.e. Direct Debit. If that’s not possible, we’ll issue your refund as a cheque. It’s always a good idea to make sure that we have your most current address (in case a cheque needs to be issued).
Note for new account holders: You’ll want to register your service for My Account. Here you can manage your services and accounts. You’ll be able to check data usage, roaming settings, set up call diversion, change your address, set up electronic billing and much more!
Further support
- View your bill, usage & make changes to your service in My Account or the My Optus app. You can learn more about the My Optus app here.
- Contact us on Messenger (24/7)
- Our social team on Facebook and Twitter
- Join the discussion and reach out to us on Yes Crowd
If you have any questions, please comment below.
