Customers of telco giant Telstra will notice a new charge from next month as the company joins the ranks of those charging for paper bills.
Telstra has spent recent weeks notifying customers they will soon need to pay $2.20 for receiving a paper bill.
The change comes into effect from May 20, but not all customers will be impacted.
Customers can continue to receive a paper bill without charge if they have a valid Health Care, Pension Concession or Department of Veteran’s Affairs Card.
Those who receive their bills in special format such as braille or large print and people on the Telstra disability equipment program will also be exempt, as will customers living in remote communities and people without an email address and access to the internet.
Telstra said the move is “in step with global and local trends in billing and payments across a range of utilities, telcos and service providers”.
“As a technology company, we’ll always encourage customers to interact with us digitally and the best way to do that is through our My Telstra App,” Telstra told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Customers can avoid these fees by making the switch to electronic billing where they will receive their bills via email or access them via their Telstra account using the web or the My Telstra app.”
Under Australian Consumer Law, companies can charge customers a fee each time they send out a paper bill, which goes toward the cost of printing and posting the bill.
Several other retailers such as Optus, Vodafone, Origin Energy and Energy Australia charge customers for requesting a paper bill — except for those living in NSW, where energy customers are exempt under state law.