Independent Australian energy journalism · Est. comparison-era voice, rebuilt for long-form
The archive
Twenty-eight long-form explainers, organised the way households actually search: compare, switch, solar, gas, hardship and the state you live in.
The Solar Sharer Offer is an opt-in standing offer in Default Market Offer areas: a three-hour midday window of free electricity for eligible smart-meter households, up to a daily cap commonly described as 24 kWh. It exists because the grid is stuffed with daytime solar.
A move is a connect or a transfer, not a same-day miracle. Read the NMI at the new address, compare plans while you are choosing anyway, and do not confuse dual fuel with one phone call.
The best solar plan is the cheapest whole bill, not the highest feed-in tariff. Rank import rates, daily supply, export credits and export caps at your actual usage before you let a banner rate choose the retailer.
Start with the retailer, keep supply on, and use estimated-read, meter-fault and backbilling rules before you go to EWON, EWOV, EWOQ, EWOSA, Tasmania's ombudsman or ACAT.
Compare heating on useful heat, not on a raw c/kWh versus c/MJ argument. A reverse-cycle heat pump can deliver several kilowatt hours of heat for each kilowatt hour it buys. A gas heater wastes a slice of every megajoule in the flue. Running costs follow that gap, plus two supply charges if you keep both fuels.
The main national “solar rebate” is not a cheque. It is a bundle of small-scale technology certificates created when eligible panels are installed, which the installer usually turns into an upfront discount under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.
Your NMI is a 10 or 11 digit ID for the electricity connection; a MIRN does the same job for gas. They are not meter serial numbers, and a wrong NMI can transfer the wrong house.
Dual fuel means one retailer for electricity and gas, often one bill. It is a convenience product. It is not a law of cheaper energy. Price each fuel as a stand-alone plan, then see whether the bundle still wins.
Home EV charging is a tariff problem before it is a hardware problem. Time-of-use, demand charges, three-phase supply and daytime solar change the bill more than the brand on the wallbox — and this is not a product review.
A home battery is a bet that stored solar — or cheap midday grid power — will replace expensive evening imports. Payback depends on your leftover exports, your tariff shape and the rebate rules on the day you install, not on a brochure cycle-life number.
Controlled load is a separate, distributor-switched circuit for hot water or slab heating. It is not the same as time-of-use off-peak, and solar households should not keep it on habit.
Natural gas is priced in cents per megajoule plus a daily supply charge, on a named distribution network. Dual fuel is not automatically cheaper. Compare usage and supply on Energy Made Easy or Victorian Energy Compare the same way you would electricity — with a bill in your hand.
Every authorised energy retailer must have a hardship policy. If you cannot pay an electricity or gas bill, there are payment plans, disconnection rules and free financial counsellors — including the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 — before the lights are allowed to go off.
A solar feed-in tariff is the credit your retailer pays for leftover rooftop generation sent to the grid. In 2026 those rates are low, often capped, and almost never the number that decides whether solar is worth running.
The Default Market Offer is the annual price cap on standing offers in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia. It is also the reference price retailers use in advertising, which is not the same thing as your household bill.
A demand tariff charges you for a short spike in power as well as for the kilowatt hours you use across the month. One hot afternoon with the air-conditioner and the oven on can set a capacity charge that follows you until the next billing cycle.
Accredited GreenPower is a percentage of your usage matched with renewable generation certificates. Carbon-neutral marketing is often a different product: offsets that do not change the electricity in your switchboard.
Comparing electricity plans is less about hunting a lowest advertised rate and more about matching a tariff to how your household actually uses power. This guide walks through the bill details, comparison sites and tariff types that decide whether a switch is worth it.
A single-rate tariff charges the same usage price all day. A time-of-use tariff splits the clock into peak, shoulder and off-peak, which can cut a bill or raise it depending on when you actually use power.
The Victorian Default Offer is the state's regulated electricity price, set by the Essential Services Commission rather than the Australian Energy Regulator. It caps standing offers and serves as the comparison reference on Victorian Energy Compare.
An electricity bill is a stack of wholesale energy, network charges, environmental scheme costs and a retail margin. Those layers move on different clocks, which is why a July price letter can arrive even when your usage has not changed.
Smart meters record interval usage, send remote reads and unlock time-of-use and demand tariffs. Victoria finished its rollout years ago; the rest of the NEM is catching up.
Australia does not have one electricity market. The NEM, WA’s WEM on the SWIS, and the Northern Territory run on different rules, and retail contestability stops at regional Queensland, most WA households, and other quiet exceptions. Here is the map.
A bill is a fact sheet for your household: NMI, usage versus supply, GST, estimated reads, solar credits and the figures you should paste into Energy Made Easy.
Switching a small-business electricity retailer in a contestable market does not cut the power. Here is the transfer process, what cooling-off and brokers change, and the contract dates you should check before you sign.
Western Australia is not on the National Electricity Market. Most South West Interconnected System households buy from Synergy, Horizon Power covers regional and remote systems, and retail choice is limited. Here is how the WEM, the SWIS and those two businesses actually fit together.
Switching retailers is a billing change, not a blackout: the new company raises the transfer, your lights stay on, and you have 10 business days to cool off.
Small-business electricity is not a residential plan with an ABN attached. Here is how negotiated contracts, benefit periods, demand charges and brokers actually work — and what still looks like a household offer.
Energy concessions are a state and territory job, usually applied through your retailer if you hold a Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card or DVA card. Here is how the main schemes work, why medical cooling and life support are different, and where to check this year’s figures.