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Electricity rate changes from 1 July 2023
Our variable electricity rates increased from 1 July for existing customers (including customers who signed up to 30 June) on the following residential and business plans
- our Basic Home and Basic Business plans - our standing offer plans, equal to the Victorian Default Offer (VDO)
- Unmetered supply (UMS) in the AusNet area
Customers have been notified.
For new customers, our variable electricity rates increased from 1 July for the following residential and business plans.
If you join EnergyAustralia or switch to one of these plans after 30 June 1 July you’ll sign up on the new, increased rates.
- Basic Home and Basic Business plans - our standing offer plans
- Flexi Plan Home, Balance plan Home, Solar Max Plan, Business Balance 12 and Business Balance 24 plans, Business Family and Friends and Business Carbon Neutral Flexi Plan – our retail market plans
Electricity rate changes from 1 August 2023
Our variable electricity rates increased from 1 August for existing customers (including customers who signed up to 30 June) on the following residential and business plans
- Flexi Plan Home, Balance Plan Home, Solar Max Plan, Family and Friends, Business Balance 12 and Business Balance 24 plans, and Business Carbon Neutral Flexi Plan – our retail market plans
- Any other legacy retail market plans in addition to those listed above
Customers have been notified.
For new or existing customers on the below plan, our variable electricity rates increased from 1 August for the following residential plan.
If you join EnergyAustralia or switch to this plan after 31 July you’ll sign up on the new, increased rates.
- Family and Friends Plan
Solar feed-in tariff (FiT) changes from 1 October 2023
- Our time of use FiT and applicable times changed and customers have been notified. Current FiT buyback rates can be viewed online
Why are electricity rates changing?
Our Basic Home and Basic Business plans (our standing offer plans) are equivalent to the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) which is set and reviewed by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) annually and changes each year in July.
From 1 July 2023, the VDO increased for residential and small business customers. Our standing offer electricity rates were adjusted to reflect this change.
There are many factors that can impact electricity rates and the overall cost to supply electricity to our customers. Our rates are reviewed and adjusted based on wholesale, network, retail and other costs.
More information can be found in the 'Why do energy rates change?' FAQ below or How energy gets to you.
Why do solar feed-in tariffs (solar buy-back rates) change?
In Victoria, the minimum solar feed-in tariffs (FiT) retailers have to pay are set by the ESC and reviewed annually, typically on 1 July. We may review our flat rate, time of use or higher than retailer FiT around the same time and will notify customers before the FiT or buyback rate we pay for excess solar changes.
With number of homes and businesses with solar increasing, and most solar exports back to the grid happening during the day when the electricity cost is lower, the value of the solar exports are not as high as they used to be.
Our current FiT for flat rate and time of use are higher than the regulated minimum.
Existing customers not impacted by 1 July changes
- Electricity customers on retail market plans
- Gas customers on our standing offer and retail market plans
- Solar customers with feed-in tariffs other than time of use or Solar Max plan’s higher than standard FiT – ie. flat rate or standard retailer FiT or Premium FiT
Existing customers not impacted by 1 August changes.
- Electricity customers on our Basic Home or Basic Business Plans - our standing offer plans
- Electricity customers on retail market plans who signed up from 1 July
- Gas customers on our standing offer and retail market plans
Not sure which plan you’re on? It’s listed on your bill, welcome pack or in MyAccount.
Gas rate changes
Our variable gas rates are not changing for Victorian customers at this time.
Rates are typically reviewed annually, and customers are notified of any changes in advance.
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 (for residential customers) and Rapid Business Assist are available.
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 (for residential customers) and Rapid Business Assist are available.
We’ll send emails and letters to existing customers before rate changes happen – usually around the middle of the month before the change.
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 via email, direct to your 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
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 rates annually.
In Victoria, rate changes for electricity and gas used to occur around January and February each year.
From July 2023, the Essential Services Commission (ESC) will review the Victorian Default Offer electricity price every year on 1 July. Review of our rates for both electricity and gas will typically occur around the same time.
Changes 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.
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 also view our Standing Offer electricity and gas rates. These rates apply if you are on our Basic Home or Basic Business plan. View our current Basic Home and Basic Business rates.
Our current retail market rates that new customers sign up on can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers. Or find out more about the Victorian Default 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 contract, this relates to the discount or other conditions of the energy plan you signed up to. While these won’t change before your contract ends, the variable rates related to your plan can change before the end of your contract.
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)
With a Regular Pay plan, you make smaller, more regular instalments to pay for your energy, so you’ll know how much you need to pay and when. It’s a simple way to help you manage your energy payments.
Here’s how it works:
- you’ll pay a set instalment amount based on your estimated energy costs at your preferred payment frequency (weekly, fortnightly or monthly).
- you’ll still receive your bills as usual with your usage and payment details. They’ll show how well your instalments are covering your actual energy costs.
- we’ll review your account throughout the year to make sure you’re not paying too much or too little. If this happens, we’ll let you know.
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’.
Victorian Default Offer – standing offer for electricity
The Victorian Default Offer (VDO) electricity rates are set by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) in Victoria. The ESC usually reviews the VDO price every year, this usually occurs on 1 July (previously 1 January). Find out more about the Victorian Default Offer.
The Victorian Default Offer (VDO) standing offer rates for electricity increased from 1 July 2023.
Our Basic Home and Basic Business plans are based on plans are based on, and equivalent to the VDO and may either increase or decrease to remain in line with the VDO when it’s reviewed each year
Our current standing offer rates can also be viewed online.
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 you have. 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
If you receive a Life Support rebate, the daily rate will move in line with any overall change in rates for your home electricity bills from the date your rates change.
Federal and State Governments change concessions and eligibility from time to time. Any existing concessions on your account are updated in line with any government changes. We’ll let you know if you’re no longer eligible, need to re-apply or if a concession you’re receiving is ending.
Find out more about the concessions currently available in Victoria and view our concession FAQs for more information.
- Time of use solar feed-in tariffs (FiT) changed from 1 July 2023. Existing customers have been notified.
- Time of use solar feed-in tariffs (FiT) and applicable times changed from 1 October 2023. Existing customers have been notified.
Our standard solar FiT isn’t changing at this time, customers will be notified before any changes happen.
.You can view our current rates.
Feed-in tariffs are variable. Minimum feed-in-tariffs for Victoria are set by the Essential Services Commission (ESC). This is typically reviewed annually around July. Our Retailer FiTs are then reviewed in line with what is set by the ESC. Customers are notified before any changes occur.
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.
Bulk hot water rates typically change when gas rates change. We’ll list bulk hot water in the list of plans if it’s changing and customers will be notified before any changes happen.
There's no change to PureEnergy GreenPower at this time..
We supply businesses and councils in the AusNet area in Victoria and Ausgrid area in New South Wales 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.
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