How to Connect Electricity and Gas at a New Address

To connect electricity and gas at a new address, you open an account with a retailer, and that retailer asks your local network business to switch the supply on. You never deal with the network business yourself.

Two things decide how smoothly this runs. The first is the meter situation at the property. The second is how much notice your retailer gets before move-in day.

Most utilities connections at an existing home are purely administrative. Nobody digs up the street. Your retailer lodges the request, the network confirms the electricity supply is live, and billing starts from the date you nominate.

Your distributor turns the power on. Your retailer arranges it. Mixing up the two is the most common reason a connection goes sideways.

The split works like this:

• Distributors – These companies own the poles, wires, and pipes in your area, and they own the meter on your wall. Ausgrid, Energex, SA Power Networks, Evoenergy, and the five Victorian networks all sit in this group. You cannot choose yours, because your address sets it.
• Your electricity retailer – This is the company you sign with, the one that bills you and lodges the connection request for you. Origin Energy, AGL, and EnergyAustralia all operate across the electricity network as retailers. You can choose this one, and the choice changes what you pay.

You can connect utilities online in about the time it takes to make a coffee. Four steps cover both fuels.

Here is how the process runs from start to finish:

1. Enter your postcode – GoSwitch pulls the plans actually available at your new address, not a national average.
2. Pick your plan – Compare usage charges, daily supply charges, and any sign-up credits before you commit.
3. Give your move details – Supply your name, move-in date, and any instructions a technician needs to reach the meter.
4. Let the switch happen – An Australia-based consultant sets up the plan and completes the paperwork, including the request to disconnect electricity and gas at your old place.

Moving house usually means you move utilities in both directions on the same day. Handling the old address and the new one together stops you paying supply charges on a home you have already left.

Electricity at an existing home usually takes one to three business days. Gas takes longer, and a new connection at a fresh build takes longer again.

Timing depends far more on your meter type than on which of the electricity providers you sign with:

• A property with a smart meter can often be switched on remotely, sometimes the same day, because nobody needs to visit the site.
• A property with an older manual meter needs a technician to attend, which ties the job to business hours and the network’s schedule.
• Gas connections generally need around three business days, since a meter reading and a physical visit are almost always involved.
• A new connection at a newly built home runs to weeks, because the network must approve the work and fit a meter.
• A property that was disconnected before you arrived takes extra time, because the supply must be made safe and re-energised first.

SA Power Networks asks customers to give their retailer at least four working days’ notice before handover. EnergyAustralia puts a standard connection at up to three business days, and notes that a brand new meter takes longer.

Sources: SA Power Networks and EnergyAustralia, verified September 2026.

Connection fees are small, one-off charges set by your distributor and passed on by your retailer. Across GoSwitch’s states they run from nothing to about $150 for electricity, and under $30 for gas.

Source: Origin Energy moving fees, prices current at 1 July 2026, verified September 2026. All amounts include GST. Distributors set these fees and the amount passed on varies between retailers.

A connection fee is separate from your usage rate. It shows up once on your first bill, while the usage rate shapes your energy bills for as long as you stay on the plan.

Gas availability is decided by the network in your area, not by your retailer. Where there is no gas main in the street, no retailer can connect you.

Check these before you assume gas is an option:

• Look for a gas meter or a gas hot water unit at the property – an existing meter is the clearest sign the street is connected.
• Read the sale contract or ask the agent directly – newer estates in Victoria and NSW are increasingly built all-electric.
• Ask what the appliances run on – a home with an electric cooktop and a heat pump may use no gas at all.
• Confirm both fuels before you compare gas plans alongside electricity – a dual fuel plan is no use at an all-electric address.

Often yes, if the property has a smart meter and you lodge the request early enough in the day. Gas rarely matches that speed.

Same-day requests fail for predictable reasons. These are the ones worth heading off:

• The request goes in after the cut-off. Most retailers need it lodged by early afternoon, though SA Power Networks accepts move-in requests until 9pm.
• The meter box is locked or blocked. A technician who cannot reach the meter will leave, and Victorian networks charge between $33.36 and $439.93 for the wasted visit.
• The main switch is left on. Networks will not energise a property while the switchboard is live.
• The property was disconnected months ago. A long-dormant supply needs a safety check before anyone turns it back on.

GoSwitch compares energy plans and lodges an urgent electricity connection request in the one process, which beats ringing retailers one at a time.

Connect without choosing a plan and you land on a default offer, which is rarely the cheapest deal going.

The Australian Energy Regulator explains that a first-time connection falls to a local area retailer, the default authorised retailer that must provide you with a contract. In the ACT, that retailer is ActewAGL. The rule protects you from being left without supply. It does not get you a good rate.

Victoria works differently, because it has not commenced the National Energy Retail Law. Energy providers there operate under state rules, with the Victorian Default Offer acting as the price ceiling for standing offers.

Plans differ in more than the headline number. Electricity tariffs are set when you pay peak or off-peak prices, and the right structure depends on your energy needs at home. GoSwitch compares electricity and gas plans against your actual bill rather than an estimate, so the saving you see is the saving you keep.

Source: Australian Energy Regulator, verified September 2026.

Enter your postcode, see what is available at your new address, and pick the plan that suits how you use energy. Everything after that gets handled for you.

Comparing utility plans once a year is what finds the savings, and across gas and electricity that can run to hundreds. GoSwitch covers NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, and the ACT, for households and small business sites alike.

The same postcode brings up electricity and gas deals alongside internet plans and health cover, so the whole household gets sorted in one sitting.

Book it now and the power is on before the removalists finish unloading.