How to switch energy providers

An electricity bill looks complicated and is built from two numbers. Both are on the most recent bill, and without them there is no way to tell whether a new plan costs less.

The first is the usage rate, quoted in cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh). This is what you pay for the electricity you actually use, and it is usually the larger part of the bill. The second is the daily supply charge, in cents per day. This is a fixed fee for being connected to the grid, charged whether you use any power or not. Across a year it commonly adds several hundred dollars before a single appliance is switched on.

The third figure is annual usage in kilowatt hours, which most bills show as a comparison against previous periods or against similar households, and which four quarterly bills add up to. It determines how much weight each of the two rates carries: for a high-usage household the usage rate dominates, while for a low-usage household or a holiday home the supply charge can be the majority of the bill.

If you have never actively chosen an energy plan, you are probably on a standing offer, and a plan whose benefits have ended may now be priced close to one. This is the default contract a retailer must make available, and it is the most expensive place to sit.

Because standing offers were being used to charge disengaged customers heavily, they are now capped. In New South Wales, South East Queensland and South Australia the cap is the Default Market Offer, set annually by the Australian Energy Regulator. In Victoria the equivalent is the Victorian Default Offer, set by the Essential Services Commission. For 2026 to 2027 the DMO falls by between 3.4% and 5.0% for New South Wales residential customers on a flat rate and by 7.2% in South East Queensland, while South Australia rises by 1.4%.

The important thing to understand about these caps is what they are for. They are a consumer protection ceiling, not a benchmark of a good price. Competitive market offers sit well below the cap, so a household on a standing offer is almost always paying more than a market offer would charge. Moving from a standing offer to a market offer is where the largest savings in the energy market sit.

Not every state has retail competition. Customers in Tasmania, the Northern Territory, regional Queensland and Western Australia have limited or no ability to switch retailers, because those markets are not fully deregulated. In those areas, the tariff type and any concessions a household qualifies for make more difference than the choice of retailer.

The most common reason people do not switch is a worry that something will go wrong with their supply. Nothing physical changes at all. The poles, wires, meter and the distributor who maintains them stay exactly the same, and the distributor is the party who restores power in an outage regardless of who bills you. Switching retailer changes only which company buys the electricity on your behalf and sends you the bill. There is no interruption, no technician visit and no disconnection.

The process, start to finish:

1. The details. The most recent bill, the postcode, annual usage in kWh, and the National Meter Identifier (NMI) for electricity or Meter Installation Reference Number (MIRN) for gas, both printed on the bill.
2. Plans for the actual address. Energy pricing is set by distribution zone, so a plan available in one suburb may not exist in the next. Comparisons that ignore the postcode are not meaningful.
3. The two rates, the usage rate and the daily supply charge, with the estimated annual cost as a sanity check rather than the deciding figure.
4. The current plan’s exit conditions. Most modern plans have no exit fee, but some fixed-benefit plans do, and the retailer must say if one applies.
5. Sign-up with the new retailer. The new retailer handles the transfer with the old one, so there is nothing to cancel.
6. The cooling-off period. There are 10 business days after receiving the contract to withdraw without penalty.
7. The transfer completes, usually on your next meter read, so anywhere from a few days to about a month depending on your meter type.
8. The first bill shows the c/kWh, the supply charge and any discount, which can be checked against the plan signed up for.

You will receive a final bill from your old retailer covering usage up to the transfer date, and any credit balance must be refunded to you. Payment plans and hardship arrangements do not transfer automatically, so the new retailer only knows about them if told, and switching while in arrears may not be possible with every retailer.

Beyond the two rates, a few structural choices suit very different households.

A time of use tariff charges different rates by time of day, typically an expensive early-evening peak and much cheaper off-peak periods overnight. It rewards households that can move washing, dishwashing, pool pumps and vehicle charging out of the peak, and it penalises those who cannot. The AER’s 2026 to 2027 determination cut time of use standing offer prices by 10.7% in South East Queensland for smart meter households, a larger fall than the flat rate, but any saving from the tariff itself is entirely dependent on actually shifting the usage.

Since 1 July 2026 retailers in New South Wales, South East Queensland and South Australia have also been required to offer a Solar Sharer plan, an opt-in option for smart meter customers providing three hours of free electricity in the middle of the day, up to a daily cap. It is designed to make use of abundant daytime solar generation and, notably, it does not require you to have rooftop solar yourself. Victoria's equivalent, the Midday Power Saver, began on 1 October 2026. Either works for households that can move heavy usage into the middle of the day, depending on the rates outside the free window.

For solar households, the feed-in tariff alone is a weak guide. Feed-in rates have fallen sharply as daytime solar has grown, and a headline feed-in rate rarely outweighs a poor usage rate, because most households import far more than they export in value terms. The usage rate and supply charge usually decide the bill, with the feed-in tariff as a tie-breaker.

Most plans have a benefit period, commonly twelve months, and when it ends the discount or promotional rate lapses and the plan reverts to the retailer’s standard rates. The retailer must give notice beforehand, but the notice is easy to miss, which is how a competitive plan turns into one that used to be competitive.