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2023 rate changes – NSW, ACT, SA and QLD
Changes from 1 March 2023
Our electricity rates will increase from 1 March 2023 for existing electricity customers on most of our retail market plans, including:
- Balance Plan Home, Business Balance Plan, Flexi Plan Home, Business Carbon Neutral Flexi Plan, Solar Max, Family and Friends plans and some employee plans, along with other legacy variable rate electricity plans.
Customers not impacted:
- Basic Home or Basic Business electricity customers
- Unmetered supply
- Gas customers
- Our managed Builder partners.
Why are electricity costs increasing?
There have been many impacts to energy globally, including the sustained impact of the war in Ukraine on energy prices, extreme weather conditions and coal supply issues. These factors mean that it’s costing us more both to generate and purchase wholesale electricity for our customers.
More information can be found in the 'Why do energy rates change?' FAQ below.
What we’re doing to help
Our priorities are to maintain supply and support all our customers. We are working with governments and with coal and gas producers to implement interventions to help minimise future impacts on retail prices for customers.
If you are facing difficulty paying your next bill, contact us and we can discuss the options we have to support.
When will I find out if my rates are changing?
Emails or letters will go out to affected customers during the following period,
- Around mid-February 2023 to let you know if there is a change to your rates from 1 March 2023
We’ll include in your email/letter an estimate on how the price change may impact your bill over the next 12 months. This is based on estimated usage for an average EnergyAustralia customer depending on where they live.
You can also view your new rates on your first bill issued after the date that applies to you.
For new customers
Our current rates can be found here for residential customers and here for business customers.
You’ll also be able to contact us.
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’re all for helping you find smarter ways to use energy. Just head to our ‘Better Energy’ blog to find tips on how to reduce your energy bills, info on going solar, the latest on battery storage and more. Visit our blog to find out more.
We review our rates based on wholesale, network, retail and other costs.
More information about why rates change can be found in the 'Why do energy rates change?' FAQ below.
Gas fees and charges eg: reconnection and disconnection fees changed in the Australian Gas network distribution zone from 1 February 2023.
Any concession changes were updated from 1 July 2022. Please click on your state to find out more:
Solar feed-in-tariffs are not changing at this time and customers will be notified before this happens.
There are no changes planned for 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.
The unmetered electricity supply changed in New South Wales on 1 July 2022. This was due to electricity wholesale and retail costs impacting the prices we charge our customers.
The rates used to calculate your energy bills are made up of both usage rates and supply charges. We call this ‘your total energy bill’.
- The supply charge is a daily service charge to deliver electricity or gas to you.
- Usage charges are rates charged for the actual electricity or gas you use.
-Some tariffs - such as time of use - have variable usage rates depending on the time of day you use electricity.
- Demand charges – a charge based on your highest demand for electricity.
Rates are also known as tariffs. For more information go to our tariff pages.
Typically, we review our rates every year:
- in Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and South Australia they tend to happen in July and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) reviews the Default Market Offer price every year on 1 July.
- in Victoria rate changes usually occur in July (previously in January) and the Essential Services Commission (ESC) reviews the Victorian Default Offer price every year on 1 July.
There may be occasions where rates change at other times.
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 whether energy rates increase or decrease. These include:
• Wholesale costs – to purchase electricity and gas from generators and producers
• Network costs – charged by distributors for energy transmission, metering and maintenance of the pipes, poles and wires that delivers your energy
• Retail costs – charged by us for servicing and billing your account
• Other costs – incurred by us to comply with government schemes such as the Renewable Energy Target
You can choose to have important notices, including information about rate changes sent instantly direct to your email inbox.
Here’s how:
- Register or log in to My Account
- update your ‘communication preference’ to email, to receive important information such as rate changes about your account via email
- you can also update your ‘bill delivery preference’ to email, to receive your bills via email
When you register for My Account, you’ll also receive alerts about upcoming rate changes once you log in.
If you choose ‘post’ as your ‘communication preference’, you’ll be advised of any rate changes this way.
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.
Please contact us as soon as possible, so we can work with you to arrange an extension and/or set up a payment plan.
• Visit My Account
• Chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? Button at the 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.
When you switch to 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 our rates change, and customers will be notified about any changes.
Rates are typically reviewed annually around July, however there may be occasions where we change our rates at other times. If you’ve signed up to the following electricity plans up to 31 January 2023, these rates will increase on 1 March 2023 for NSW, ACT, SA and QLD and customers will be notified.
- Flexi Plan Home, Flexi Plan Business or Business Carbon Neutral Flexi plan
- Balance Plan Home or Business Balance plan
- Family & Friends plan.
- Solar Max plan
You can easily compare and switch to one of our latest plans in around 5 minutes.
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.
- chat with us by clicking on the Need Help? button at the 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)
Outside of these hours?