Analysis by electricity price comparison website www.

goswitch.com.au shows western suburbs residents could be hit with increases of up to $400 a year.

The figure is based on consumers who have average household consumption, are with the default retailer for their area and are on a default plan from that retailer.

Ben Freund, chief executive of www.goswitch.com.au,

says Victoria has one of the world's most competitive energy markets, with consumers able to get a better deal if they shop around.

Mr Freund says electricity costs are rising because Victoria's growing population adds to demand pressure, and electricity supply has not significantly increased in 20 years. The Federal Government has mandated renewable energy targets - and renewable energy is more expensive.

"A lot of consumers are going to start seeing nasty bills in the first quarter of 2010 because the new rates have kicked in," Mr Freund says.

A Melton resident, who wanted to be know only as Jim, said he called his retailer to find out what his increase would be and was told it would be 27per cent.

"I called to find out [what the price rise would be], then I could shop around for a better deal. Again, western suburbs people are getting shafted."

Powercor Australia and CitiPower spokesman Ryan Auger said there would be a small cost increase - between $40 and $60 a year - to cover the cost of installing 1.1million "smart meters".

But any price increases for non-regulated costs were at

the discretion of the retailer,

he said.

A number of retailers

contacted indicated there would be small increases to bills, mainly due to the increased cost of power on the wholesale market.

An AGL spokesman said the average rise for an AGL household would be about $2.65 a week (including GST) for electricity and about $1.12 (including GST) for gas.

"The factors influencing the electricity price increase include the rollout of Victoria's new Smart Electricity Meters by distribution companies and increased operating costs and network costs.

"Network costs include the charges that AGL pays to distributors in order to provide electricity to customers.

"The factors influencing the gas price increase include a rise in the cost of sourcing gas and increased network costs. It is also impacted by the review of AGL's prices, which includes the cost of providing energy to our customers."

Mr Freund said consumers should not be afraid to shop around. A five-minute shop-around on the internet could save "serious money".