Where to begin
Watts Up is for anyone who wants to understand their electricity — what it costs, where it comes from, and how to make smarter choices. No background knowledge needed. These four topics give you the foundation everything else on this site builds on.
Your suggested reading order
Each topic takes about five minutes to read, and they build on each other. We recommend going through them in order, but you can jump to whichever one interests you most.
What is electricity?
Electrons, circuits, voltage, and current explained in plain English — no physics degree required.
Read this topickW vs kWh: the two units that matter
The single most important distinction on your bill. Get this right and everything else clicks into place.
Read this topicHow electricity gets to your house
From power station to your switchboard — the supply chain, and where each cost on your bill comes from.
Read this topicWho's who in Australian electricity
Generators, networks, retailers, regulators — who does what, and which one you can actually choose.
Read this topicWhat you will learn
The language of energy
Watts, kilowatts, kilowatt-hours, voltage, current — what each term actually means, with analogies you can picture.
How the system works
The journey from power station to your switchboard, and the different companies that handle each step of the way.
Why your bill looks the way it does
Understanding who charges what — and why — is the first step toward controlling what you pay.
A foundation for everything else
Tariffs, solar, batteries, and market pricing all build on these basics. Once you have them, the rest of the site will make much more sense.
No physics degree required
Takes about 5 minutes to read