Rate changes –NSW, ACT, SA, and QLD

We are continuing to work with government and coal and gas suppliers to ensure the market interventions announced late in 2022 deliver price increases which are less than they would have been without those actions by government. 

Higher prices for wholesale electricity and gas contracts continue due to energy market volatility in 2022 before government intervention. This volatility reflects higher coal and gas costs compared with previous years. For electricity, the higher prices are also the result of the impact of ageing coal-fired power stations that were less reliable in 2022 or which have since closed, and high demand for gas-fired generation to support renewables at peak periods.

Our priorities are to maintain supply and support our customers. Our focus remains on introducing as much generation supply into the market as possible from our fleet of coal, gas and new renewable generation assets to reduce the pressure on wholesale energy prices. 

 If you’re facing difficulty paying your next bill, contact us and we can discuss the options we have to support you. Visit our energy bill support page for more information. Our programs EnergyAssist  and Rapid Business Assist are available.

We’ll send emails and letters to existing customers before the changes happen – around two weeks before. 

You can also view your new rates on your first bill issued after the date that applies to you.
Notifications will also be listed on your on your bills and when you register for My Account, you’ll also receive alerts about upcoming rate changes once you log in if new rates have been applied to your account.  

You can have important notices, including information about rate changes sent direct to your email inbox instead of via the post. Here’s how:

• Register or log in to My Account
• update your ‘bill delivery preference’ to email, to receive your bills and rate change notices via email.
• update your ‘communication preference’ to email, to receive important information about your account via email.  

For new customers

Our current rates can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers.

You can also view our standing offer rates.  
 

Typically, we review our variable electricity and gas rates annually around July or August. 

In New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland they tend to happen around July and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) reviews the Default Market Offer (DMO) price every year on 1 July. Typically, we set the rates for our Basic Home and Basic Business plans - our standing offer plans - in line with the DMO and so review these rates around this time.  Rates for our retail market plans may be reviewed around the same time.

Changes to rates may not always happen at the same time and there may be occasions where rates change at other times. We notify customers before their rates change.
 

The Default Market Offer (DMO) was introduced in 2019 by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and is the annual maximum total bill amount (called a reference price) energy companies can charge electricity customers on default contracts, known as ‘standing offer’ prices, based on a set average usage amount. Our Basic Home and Basic Business plans are our ‘standing offer’ plans, typically equivalent to the DMO.

The DMO also acts as a 'reference price' designed to make it easier for customers to compare electricity plans across different energy providers. When advertising or promoting electricity prices, energy retailers must compare their prices to the reference price. The DMO is available to eligible residential and small business customers in New South Wales, South Australia and south-east Queensland.

How your new rates compare to the DMO is listed as a percentage on your price change notification. The percentage figure can be below, above or equivalent to the DMO reference price, and is compared based on average customer usage in your area. This is a guide for comparison to the current DMO or reference price. What you actually pay will depend on how much electricity you actually use.
 

In an email or letter, we sent you to let you know about the rate change, your old and new rates will be listed. 

You can also view your new rates on your first bill issued after the rate change applies.

You can our Standing Offer electricity and gas rates. These rates apply if you are on a Basic Home or Basic Business plan .View our current Basic Home and Basic Business rates.

Our current retail market rates that new customers would sign up on can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers.

Or find out more about the Default Market Offer

The amount your electricity or gas bill will change by will depend on your usage, the energy plan you're on and the distribution area your home or business is in.

When we sent you an email or letter to let you know about the rate change, we provided an estimated cost or saving of the change, along with your old and new rates and whether the change relates to your electricity or gas account.

Your bill will be split pro-rata:

• all rates and charges before and after the change will be detailed on the bill
• your bill will be calculated with the old rates for any of the billing period before the rate change date
• your bill will be calculated with the new rates for the billing period after the rate change date.

If your energy plan has variable rates, they could change sooner than you expect depending on the time of year you sign up. Possibly as early as the first few months. Our variable energy rates are typically reviewed annually around July or August, however there may be occasions where we change our rates at other times. 

When you join EnergyAustralia, we’ll send you a welcome pack with all the important information, such as the energy plan details and current rates you agreed to. You will be charged these rates until rates change, customers will be notified of changes. 

Your energy plan may also have a Benefit Period that is typically for 12 months, this relates to the discount or other conditions of the energy plan you signed up to. While these won’t change before your Benefit Period ends, the variable rates related to your plan can change before the end of your Benefit Period. 

You can easily compare and switch to one of our latest plans for electricity or gas in around 5 minutes.
Our current retail market rates can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers.

Our ‘Better Energy’ blog has useful tips that could help reduce energy costs for your home or business . You can also use My Account to monitor your electricity usage and see current charges, before you receive your bill. 

If you’re facing difficulty paying your next bill, contact us and we can discuss the options we have to support you. A payment extension or set up a payment plan to longer term support if you need it.

Visit our energy bill support page for more information. Our programs EnergyAssist  and Rapid Business Assist are available.

• visit My Account
• chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? Button at bottom of our home page
• for residential customers call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–7.00pm)
• for business customers call us on 1800 249 630 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm)
   

Energy travels through four main stages on its journey from generation to the point where you turn on a switch. Each stage incurs costs that are passed on to you via your energy bill. It is changes in these four main areas that generally influence energy rate changes. These include: 

• Wholesale costs – to purchase electricity and gas from generators and producers. 
• Network costs – charged by distributors for energy transmission and maintenance of the pipes, poles and wires that delivers your energy. 
• Retail costs – charged by us for servicing and billing your account. Inflation can also impact these costs.
• Other costs – for example, costs incurred by us to comply with government schemes such as the Renewable Energy Target

 Find out more about ‘How energy gets to you’ 

Default Market Offer – the standing offer for electricity, typically equivalent to our Basic Home and Basic Business electricity plans. 
The Default Market Offer (DMO) rates are set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for NSW, SA and QLD. The AER usually reviews the DMO reference price every year, this usually occurs on 1 July. Find out more about the Default Market Offer.

The Default Market Offer (DMO) standing offer rates for electricity increased from 1 July 2023. 

Our Basic Home and Basic Business electricity rates are based on, and typically equivalent to the DMO and may either increase or decrease to remain in line with the DMO when it’s reviewed each year.

View our new Basic Home and Basic Business rates

The rates used to calculate your energy bills are made up of both usage rates and supply charges. 

• The supply charge is a fixed daily service charge to supply energy to your home or small business
• Usage charges are rates charged for the energy you use. Some tariffs have different usage rates depending on the time of day and day of the week you use energy.
• Demand tariffs or demand charges, are billed based on your highest demand for electricity in kilowatts (kW) during a 15 or 30 minute interval, depending on the type of smart meter at your home or business. They’ve been designed to encourage less electricity use during peak demand times when there’s more pressure on the grid. Demand pricing is available if you’re eligible and have a smart meter.

Rates are also known as tariffs. For more information go to our tariff pages. 

Tariffs for Home
Tariffs for Small Business

Our higher than standard feed-in tariff for our Solar Max Plan increased from 1 July 2023.
Our standard solar feed-in-tariffs are not changing at this time.

Solar feed-in tariffs (FiT) are variable and are reviewed from time to time and we notify customers before changes happen.
You can view our current rates

Fees and charges are reviewed by the distributor in each area (the company responsible for the poles, wires and gas pipes) from time to time, usually once or twice a year. These include fees for services such as reconnection and disconnection, special meter reads or meter installations. These charges will appear on your bill.

Electricity and gas fees changed from 1 August 2023.

View current charges.

Federal and State Governments change concessions and eligibility criteria from time to time. Any existing concessions on your account are updated in line with any government changes. We’ll notify you if you are no longer eligible, need to re-apply or if a concession you’re receiving is ending. 

See below for more information on the concessions currently available in your state and view our concession FAQs for more information.

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• South Australia
• Queensland

There's no change to PureEnergy GreenPower at this time.

What is unmetered supply (UMS) and are these rates changing in Victoria?
We supply businesses and councils in the Ausgrid area in New South Wales and the AusNet area in Victoria with electricity where a physical meter isn’t available. This is called ‘unmetered supply’. What this does is it powers essential services such as streetlights, telecommunications boxes, bus shelters, traffic lights and security lights for example – which we refer to as ‘devices’.

The unmetered electricity supply to these sites is non-contestable, which means we’re the only electricity retailer that can supply this service in your distribution area.
We’ll include unmetered supply (UMS) in the list of plans if it’s changing and customers will be notified. UMS charges typically change around 1 July each year

You can chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? Button at bottom of our home page

• For residential customers call us on 1800 001 772 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–7.00pm)
• For business customers call us on 1800 249 630 (Monday to Friday, 8.00am–6.30pm)

We’ll be happy to help.

Outside of these hours?
Fill out our general enquiries form