What's actually on an Australian power bill
Every bill is a bundle of a handful of charges. Once you can name each one, the total stops feeling like a black box.
'Why is my bill so confusing?'
An Australian electricity bill typically runs to two or three pages, filled with abbreviations, reference numbers, and line items that look like they were designed to be hard to read. But under all that clutter there are really only about six charges that matter. Once you can spot them, you can tell at a glance whether your costs are driven by how much you use, when you use it, or simply by being connected.
Anatomy of a bill
Usage charge
c/kWhThe cost of the electricity you actually consumed, usually split into peak / off-peak / shoulder rates on a time-of-use plan, or a single flat rate on a flat plan.
Supply charge
c/dayA fixed daily fee just for being connected to the grid, charged whether you use 1kWh or 100kWh that day.
Controlled load
c/kWhA cheaper rate for a separately metered circuit (usually hot water) that the distributor can switch on only during off-peak hours. Only appears if you have one.
Solar feed-in credit
c/kWh (credit)A credit for solar electricity you exported to the grid, shown as a negative line reducing your total. Only appears if you have solar.
GST
10%Goods and Services Tax, added to the subtotal like most goods and services in Australia.
Discounts
%Many retail plans offer a conditional discount (e.g. for paying on time or by direct debit) applied against usage and/or supply charges — read the fine print on what it actually applies to.
Try it yourself
Peak vs. off-peak (and shoulder) rates
On a time-of-use plan, the usage charge isn’t one flat rate — it splits into two or three bands depending on when you use the power. The exact clock times aren’t universal — they vary by state and by local distributor, and even between retailers within the same distributor area. See typical peak and off-peak windows by state further down this page.
Peak
The most expensive band, covering the retailer’s defined highest-demand window — commonly weekday afternoons into the evening.
Shoulder
A middle rate some (not all) plans use for moderate-demand periods, between peak and off-peak.
Off-peak
The cheapest band — often overnight, or simply defined as “all other times” outside peak.
Here’s what that actually looks like on a real Victorian bill:
| Charge | When | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Peak | 3pm–9pm, every day | 33.0c/kWh |
| Off-peak | All other times | 23.8c/kWh |
| Supply charge | Daily | 97.9c/day |
| Solar feed-in | At all times | 1.5c/kWh |
Notice the gap
Distributor vs. retailer — two different companies on one bill
One of the most confusing things about Australian electricity is that two separate companies are involved in every bill, and only one of them sends it to you:
Distributor
Owns and maintains the poles, wires and substations that physically deliver power to your property (e.g. Ausgrid in Sydney, Energex in Brisbane, Powercor in western Victoria). You don’t choose your distributor — it’s fixed by your address — and its network costs are baked into your usage and supply charges even though its name never appears on your bill.
Retailer
Buys wholesale electricity from the NEM, pays the distributor for delivery, bundles both costs into a tariff, and sends you the bill (e.g. AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia, and many smaller retailers). This is the company you can shop around and switch between.
This is why switching retailers can change your price without anything physically changing at your house — you’re still on the same distributor’s wires, just buying the electricity that flows through them from a different seller.
Typical peak and off-peak windows by state
These are indicative only — your distributor and retailer set the actual clock times for your plan, so always check your own bill or plan documents rather than assuming one of these applies to you.
| State | Typical peak window |
|---|---|
| New South Wales (NSW) | Usually 2pm–8pm or 4pm–8pm on weekdays; off-peak overnight (e.g. 10pm–7am) |
| Queensland (SEQ) | Usually 4pm–9pm on weekdays, with shoulder and off-peak covering the rest of the day and night |
| Victoria (VIC) | Usually 4pm–9pm on weekdays, with off-peak overnight |
| South Australia (SA) | Concentrated in high-demand evening windows (e.g. 6pm–10pm during summer) |
| Tasmania (TAS) | Set via specific distributor codes, e.g. split weekday peaks (7am–10am and 4pm–9pm) |
Why it matters
Once you can name every charge on your bill, you can start asking the right questions: Is my usage charge high because of how much I use, or when I use it? Is my supply charge competitive? Am I actually getting the discount I signed up for? These are the questions that lead to real savings — and they all start with reading your bill properly.
Next step
Now that you know what each line item means, the next question is obvious: why did my bill change? Use the interactive decision tree to diagnose what’s driving your costs.