Electricity Pricing in Australia

Residential electricity costs between 25.96c and 41.91c per kilowatt hour on a flat rate plan. Your distribution network drives most of that gap, not the retailer whose name sits on your bill.

The Australian Energy Regulator caps usage rates in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia. The Essential Services Commission does the same job across Victoria.

Rates include GST and hold until 30 June 2027. Sources are the Australian Energy Regulator Default Market Offer determination and the Essential Services Commission Victorian Default Offer decision, both May 2026.

Four cost layers account for most of what reaches your bill. The ACT regulator publishes a full breakdown for 2026-27. Wholesale energy is 38.96 per cent of the total and poles and wires are 31.36 per cent.

Retail operating costs take 6.19 per cent and the retail margin 4.93 per cent. Around a tenth of your energy costs sit with the retailer, and that tenth is the part competition can move. Those costs arrive as two or three charges on your bill.

• Usage charges – You pay for every kilowatt hour you draw from the grid, from 25.96c to 41.91c.
• Supply charge – A fixed daily amount covers your grid connection even on days you use no power.
• Demand charge – Some plans add a charge based on the highest power you draw in any half hour at peak.

Because most of the stack is fixed by regulators, we compare supply and usage together rather than sorting on the headline number.

Three parties handle your electricity before it reaches you, and only one competes for your business.

Generators sell into the wholesale market, which has operated as the National Electricity Market since December 1998. The Australian Energy Market Operator runs it and sets the spot price every five minutes.

In the ACT, the wholesale cost of energy fell to $143.84 per megawatt hour for 2026-27, down 12.1 per cent.

Your electricity network owns the poles and wires. You cannot choose your distributor, and the AER approves what it charges. Only electricity retailers compete, which is why switching changes your bill without changing a single wire.

Electricity tariffs decide when you are charged, not just how much. Four structures cover almost every residential plan.

• Flat rate tariff – You pay one rate at any hour. Most retailers list this as a single rate tariff.
• Time of use tariff – Your rate moves across the day. In Victoria, peak runs 4pm to 9pm, off-peak runs 9pm to 11am, and a cheaper solar soak period runs 11am to 4pm.
• Controlled load tariffs – These apply to appliances on a separate circuit, such as electric hot water. They carry the cheapest rate on the bill.
• Demand tariff – You pay for the single highest half hour you draw in peak windows, on top of your usage rate.

Every tariff type also carries a daily supply charge. The spread is large, with CitiPower charging 38.31c at peak against 16.59c during solar soak.

GoSwitch matches plans against your usage pattern, your appliances and the hours you run them. Run the same check on gas if your home uses both.

Every retailer must advertise against a government benchmark, which makes offers comparable. That benchmark is the comparison price.

Those five come from the Default Market Offer, or DMO, which the AER resets on 1 July. The ACT sets its own at $2,744 including GST, and Victoria publishes rates by zone.

If you never choose a plan you sit on a standing offer, which is the retailer’s default contract. The DMO is the cap on that offer, not the offer itself. Every plan carries a Basic Plan Information document, or BPID, listing the exact rates.

A headline of 18 per cent less than the reference price means nothing until you know that price. We show the estimated annual cost in dollars beside plans from the retailers we compare, including AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia.

South Australia has the highest electricity prices in the country and Tasmania the lowest, a gap of $1,170 a year on identical usage. The ACT regulator publishes this comparison at 6,500 kWh a year.

Figures include GST, from the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission’s 2026-27 recalibration report, which drew on draft determinations for five jurisdictions. We compare plans across five of those markets.

Three networks split New South Wales and five split Victoria. Energex covers south-east Queensland only, while SA Power Networks and Evoenergy each serve their whole jurisdiction alone. Compare residential and small business electricity rates by network, or go straight to NSW, Victoria, QLD, SA, and the ACT.

Solar changes what you pay and what you earn, so a solar household cannot compare on the usage rate alone.

• Solar feed-in tariffs – Your retailer credits your bill for every kilowatt hour you export. The credit varies by retailer, not by network.
• Solar sharer offer – Households with a smart meter can opt into a standing offer giving three free hours of electricity a day. Anything above the 24 kWh cap is charged at your network’s off-peak or solar soak rate.
• Two-way pricing – Some networks now charge for midday exports and pay a rebate for evening exports. Essential Energy in New South Wales moves existing smart meter customers onto this structure on 1 July 2028.

An Australian Energy Market Commission rule requires every legacy Type 5 and Type 6 meter to be replaced by 30 November 2030. Feed-in credits, meter type and off-peak charging all change the sums. See what a system pays back on the solar page.

Concessions come off your bill after the price applies, so they cut what you pay without changing your plan.

Eligibility rests on a Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card, Low Income Health Care Card or Veteran Gold Card. Neither Queensland nor the ACT accepts the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Two schemes have ended. The federal Energy Bill Relief Fund closed on 31 December 2025 and Queensland’s Cost of Living Rebate lapsed.

Rules sit with Service NSW, DFFH Victoria, the Queensland Government, SA.GOV.AU and the ACT Revenue Office.

A cheaper usage rate does not always make for a cheaper year. Four things decide it.

• Exit fees – Some plans charge you to leave early and others let you move at any time. A lock-in can outlast the discount.
• Conditional discounts – These apply only if you pay on time or by direct debit. Miss one payment and the rate reverts, so weigh the guaranteed rate above the advertised.
• Fixed or variable – Variable rates move with the market and can change with notice. A fixed rate plan holds your charges for a set term, trading a saving for certainty.
• Benefit period – Most discounts run for 12 months and the plan then rolls onto a higher rate. That end date is when it stops being competitive.

If you would rather not weigh this up alone, a GoSwitch energy specialist will walk you through the plans that fit.