His only regret was that he hadn't done it sooner.

"I got fed up with paying exorbitant service charges which I think exist mainly to line the pockets of highly paid company executives," he said.

Mr Schuemaker, 78, a retired train driver, is part of a groundswell of people considering their utility options in light of hefty increases planned for this year.

Household gas prices are set to rise 15 per cent due to upgrades to pipelines, while the proposed emissions trading scheme will add another $25 a year to the annual gas bill.

Water is set to rise by 20 per cent and electricity prices rose steeply from July 1, with an increase of around 20 per cent taking effect before the start of the Federal Government's proposed ETS.

Mr Schuemaker said many people were no longer able to keep up with the increases.

He cited one of the most galling bills in which he was charged $46 for service charges despite the fact he had not used any gas in the billing period.

"I only need the gas for two small heaters, so I'm going back to bottled LPG gas, which does the job at a fraction of the costs I'm paying for natural gas," he said.

Mr Schuemaker's gas supplier AGL said it was only the retailer and that service fees were levied by distributor Jemena.

A Jemena spokesman said service fees were approved, legitimate costs that had to be recouped from the customer.

"We charge it to retailers and it's up to them if they decide to pass it on to customers," he said.

Mr Schuemaker said it made no difference who did the charging.

"Buying gas should be like any other commercial transaction ... the product should have a profit component to cover service charges," he said.

Mr Schuemaker said he was disgusted with service charges across the board and would cut off his electricity and phone if he had other options.

He was encouraged to switch to AGL about 10 years ago through an aggressive promotional campaign.

"At that stage, the offers were highly attractive but as the years went on the service charges just piled on," he said.

The last straw was when he received an account for $9.90, which included more than $50 in service fees. When he phoned AGL to close the account he was told he would have to pay a fee to transfer to another provider.

He chose to opt out altogether - and was asked to pay $29 for the final meter reading.