Compare Energy Plans in Australia

Your last bill holds the answer. Three things on it tell you most of what you need: your plan name, your rates, and the date your discount ends.

If your plan is a standing offer, you are on the retailer’s default contract. Standing offers are capped, but they are rarely the cheapest option at your address. A market offer usually sits below that cap.

Then find your benefit period. Sign-up credits and lower energy rates often run for 12 months, after which the plan reverts without much fanfare. Retailers have to tell you, though the notice tends to arrive buried in a bill.

GoSwitch reads those same details off your bill and prices the available plans against them. The annual figure you get back is built from your own usage, so it still holds when the next bill lands.

Four parts of an electricity plan decide what it costs you, and only two of them usually make it into the advertising.

Here is what each one does:

• Usage rates are what you pay for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) you draw from the grid, and they appear on your bill as usage charges.
• The daily supply charge is a fixed amount you pay for every day you stay connected, no matter how much power you use.
• A conditional discount only applies if you meet a condition, and pay-on-time and direct debit discounts are the two most common.
• Guaranteed discounts come off every bill with no strings attached, which makes them far easier to compare.

Two plans can advertise the same headline rate and land hundreds apart once the supply charge and the conditions are counted.

Your usage pattern decides the right plan, and the headline rate matters far less than the hours you actually use power.

Australian retailers run four main tariff types:

• Single rate tariff – Also called a flat rate, this charges the same amount per unit at any hour of the day.
• Time of use tariff – The day splits into peak, shoulder, and off-peak windows, with cheaper power overnight and around midday.
• Demand tariff – A separate charge applies on top of your usage, based on your highest half-hour of use in the billing period.
• Controlled load – A dedicated circuit, usually for an electric hot water system, runs at a lower overnight rate.

Time of use and demand tariffs both need a smart meter, which records your usage in intervals rather than as one quarterly total.

Your state decides which electricity providers can sell to you, which distributor runs the poles and wires, and which price benchmark applies. Your distributor never changes when you switch, because it owns the network rather than your account.

Coverage across the five states and territories GoSwitch compares works like this:

• New South Wales runs three distribution networks, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, and Essential Energy. The Default Market Offer caps standing offers across all three.
• Victoria has five distribution zones carrying different prices, with the Victorian Default Offer applying statewide. Natural gas reaches most of the state and is billed per megajoule rather than per unit of electricity.
• Queensland has retail competition in the south east on the Energex network. Regional Queensland is served by Ergon Energy at regulated prices.
• South Australia sits entirely inside the SA Power Networks area, so the Default Market Offer applies across the state.
• The Australian Capital Territory is served by Evoenergy, with the ICRC setting the regulated standing offer ActewAGL can charge.

The Solar Sharer offer is a regulated electricity plan giving eligible households three hours of free power in the middle of every day, capped at 24 kWh. You do not need rooftop solar to take it up.

Sources: DCCEEW and AER, verified September 2026. Solar Sharer Offer, energy.gov.au, AER Solar Sharer Offer fact sheet, DMO 8 final determination.

Free hours do not make a plan cheap. The regulator prices the offer to cost about the same across a year as a time-of-use standing offer, which means the free window is funded by the hours either side of it. It rewards households that can move laundry, dishwashing, heating, and vehicle charging into the middle of the day.

Your retailer sets your rates, your billing, and your contract terms. The distributor delivers the power either way, so changing retailers never interrupts your supply.

GoSwitch compares plans from energy retailers selling across the eastern states. Availability varies by address, so not every name below sells at every postcode.

Retailers on the panel include:

• AGL and EnergyAustralia are two of the three largest electricity retailers in Australia by customer numbers.
• Alinta Energy, Engie, and Momentum Energy all sell both electricity and gas plans.
• GloBird Energy, Sumo, CovaU, and 1st Energy are smaller retailers selling in selected states.
• Powershop supplies its own plans and the Kogan Energy brand under the same retail licence.
• Dodo sells energy alongside its internet plans and trades on the AER register as M2 Energy Pty Ltd.

Several of these retailers also offer GreenPower, an accredited government program that matches your usage with renewable energy fed into the grid. It adds a cost to every unit you use, so compare the full annual figure before adding it.

Why should you compare energy plans every year?

Because the plan and the price both move. Regulated reference prices reset on 1 July, while market offers, discounts, and benefit periods change on their own schedules.

An annual check takes a few minutes and covers four things:

1. Find the date your current benefit period ends, and put it in your calendar.
2. Compare your annual cost against the benchmark for your state, which resets each 1 July.
3. Note what changed at home, such as a new air conditioner, an electric vehicle, or someone now working from the kitchen table.
4. Compare the market again before you renew, because the cheapest retailer last year is rarely the cheapest this year.

Put it in the calendar for the same week each year. Running gas and electricity through GoSwitch together is where the larger gaps usually turn up, often several hundred dollars across both.

Nothing physical changes when you switch energy providers. Nobody visits the property, the power stays on, and the same wires deliver it.

Your new retailer arranges the transfer with your old one. A cooling-off period of 10 business days applies from the day you sign up, and you can cancel inside it at no cost. Transfers no longer wait for a scheduled meter read, so the switch usually completes soon after that period ends.

Check the contract terms before you sign. Fixed-term plans sometimes carry exit fees if you leave early, while plans with no exit fees let you move whenever you like.

Enter your postcode and a few details from your current bill, and GoSwitch compares what plans from participating retailers would cost you at your address.

From there, a consultant based in Australia sets the plan up and handles the transfer with your new retailer. Nothing comes back to you to fill in or sign off.

Start with your postcode and find out what the rest of the market is charging where you live.