How to compare and switch electricity plans

Comparison is meaningless without real numbers, because plans trade off a daily supply charge against a usage rate. A plan with a low usage rate and a high daily charge suits a heavy user and penalises a small apartment; the reverse is also true.

Take a recent bill and find two things: your average daily usage in kilowatt hours, and your total usage for the billing period. Both are printed on every Australian electricity bill, usually with a comparison against similar households.

If you have a smart meter, you can download interval data showing usage by time of day. This matters if you are considering a time-of-use tariff, where electricity costs different amounts at different hours. Request it from your retailer or distributor — you are entitled to your own data.

If you have solar, note your export volume separately. Feed-in tariffs vary enormously between retailers and a high feed-in tariff is often paired with a poor usage rate, so the headline number can mislead.

Energy Made Easy is run by the Australian Energy Regulator. It lists every generally available plan at your address, ranked by estimated annual cost using your usage. It takes no commission and does not exclude retailers who decline to pay for placement.

Commercial comparison sites are useful but incomplete: they show only retailers they have commercial arrangements with, and their ranking reflects those arrangements. That is not a scandal — it is a disclosed business model — but it means they are not a substitute for the regulator's tool.

Victorians should use Victorian Energy Compare, which serves the same function for the Victorian market and, at times, has been accompanied by a government bonus payment for using it.

Ignore the advertised discount percentage entirely. A '30 per cent discount' is measured against that retailer's own reference rate, which they set. Compare the estimated annual cost, which is the only number that means anything across retailers.

Contact the new retailer, or sign up online. They handle the transfer with the old retailer and the distributor. You do not need to contact your existing retailer, and you should not cancel anything yourself.

The switch usually completes within a few business days to a couple of billing cycles, depending on meter reading timing. Supply is never interrupted.

You get a ten-business-day cooling-off period on most energy contracts, during which you can cancel without penalty.

Check for exit fees on your existing plan before switching. They are prohibited on many plan types and rare in practice, but fixed-benefit contracts can carry them.

Before you switch, it is often worth calling your existing retailer, telling them the estimated annual cost of the best plan you found, and asking them to match it. Retention offers are frequently better than anything advertised, and this costs one phone call.

Every state and territory offers energy concessions for holders of pensioner, health care and veterans' cards, applied as a rebate on the bill. They are not automatic — you must give your concession card details to your retailer, and the rebate does not backdate indefinitely. This is one of the most commonly unclaimed entitlements in Australia.

If you cannot pay a bill, tell your retailer before the due date. Retailers are legally required to offer hardship programs, which can include payment plans, reduced payments, and protection from disconnection while you are complying with the plan. Disconnection for non-payment is subject to strict rules and cannot happen without notice and process.

For a complaint, go to your retailer first and get a reference number. If it is unresolved, go to the energy and water ombudsman in your state — EWON in NSW, EWOV in Victoria, EWOQ in Queensland, and equivalents elsewhere. These are free to consumers, and they can order compensation and correct billing.

Estimated bills are a common source of dispute. You can request an actual meter read, and if your bill has been estimated for several consecutive periods, ask for it to be corrected against a real reading.