How To Compare Electricity Plans And Start Saving Today

CheapBills can find cheap electricity providers and the best electricity prices for your home from our panel of preferred suppliers. There is no ‘one best deal’. Rather it depends on your budget and overall consumption. CheapBills works methodically to find a tailor-made deal that is just right for you.

In recent years, the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine has led to soaring energy costs, with more increases forecast for July 2023.
As well as these global factors, there could be several reasons closer to home that are driving your bills higher than usual. These could be:

• Time of year (winter is always highest given the demand for heat and hot water)
• New charges added by your electricity provider
• An electric fault that you’re not aware of causing a rise in pricing
• Your consumption habits have changed

If you are worried about the rising cost of your electricity compare bills from the same time last year to see if there is an unexplained increase in how much you use. If your bill has increased year on year, call CheapBills to find cheap electricity in Australia with great deals on electricity from our providers.

Some retailers have great discounts for customers who choose to bundle their services together. This can include sign-up credits when you add an additional service or discounts on your total bill.

For cheap electricity plans, the most common bundle is gas and NBN services. Talk to a CheapBills expert on 1300 786 045 to find out if a bundle from one of our preferred providers is the right choice for your home.

Peak hours are generally between 7 am and 11 pm on Monday to Friday (except most holidays) when the most people are powering their homes so demand is highest. Usage during peak hours incurs the highest rates. Off-peak hours are between 11 pm and 7 am when demand is lower. Usage during off-peak hours has cheap electricity rates. Each state in Australia has different peak times so when you compare electricity plans make sure you check the off-peak periods relevant to your area to find the best electricity prices for your home.

Off-peak hours - late at night or early in the morning - is the cheap time if you have a Time of Use tariff (ToU). Rates can be as little as half the cost of peak hours, so there are some big savings to be made.

When you compare electricity plans, look for a low off-peak rate to access cheap electricity Australia and save on your bills.

Run your washer and dryer early in the morning or at night to take advantage of off-peak rates. During the winter, demand is highest in the morning hours between 7 and 9 am when people are running heaters. Doing laundry in the evening is your best time to save money with the best electricity prices in off-peak periods.

The biggest power users in your home are:

• Air conditioning & heating
• Water heating
• Appliances
• Lighting
• TV and media

You can find cheap electricity rates for some heavy-use appliances if they are separately metered with a controlled load tariff.

The shocking truth of the matter is that plugged-in appliances can really drive up your bill. Unplugging these makes a big difference and might save you an extra $100 to $200 a year. Click here for more tips to maximise savings once you have made the switch to cheap electricity plans.

When you look at your bills, you will notice several charges are combined to reach the total amount that you pay. It’s important that you understand each charge so that you can compare electricity plans fairly.

• Supply Charge: The supply charge on your electricity bill is the base cost for your retailer to supply power to your home. This charge is a combination of a cost from the distributor, covering the cost of providing, maintaining and reading the customer’s meter, as well as maintaining the distribution poles and wires that transport power to the customer’s property.
• Demand charge: The demand charge is an additional fee charged for using power during the highest power demand times, usually between 3pm to 9pm on weekdays. This time period is referred to as ‘peak hours’. When you compare electricity plans, make sure to look for a provider that offers a good off-peak rate, and if you can, try to consume power during off-peak hours to reduce the cost of your bill.
• Distributor Charge: If you notice a distributor charge on your bill, this is due to actions outside the regular supply of power to your home. A distributor charge is the cost of additional services such as same-day connections or emergency works.
• Consumption charge: The consumption charge is the total amount your retailer will charge you for the amount of power consumed by your household or small business, based on your daily usage. This cost can vary depending on your plan - if you have a fixed rate plan or variable rate plan - and any discounts or special offers you are eligible for. When you look at electricity rates compare the consumption charge because this is the part of your bill you have the most control over.

A kilowatt stands for 'KiloWatt Hour', and is a unit of power that measures how much power your home has used. Appliances are often described in terms of their wattage, that is, the power they require to run.

A megawatt (MW) is a unit of electric load or capacity. A MW is equal to 1,000 kilowatts (kW). An MWh is the amount of power generated by a one-megawatt (MW) electric generator operating for one hour.

There are three different types of meters in Australia. Knowing which one you have in your home could be the key to unlocking savings on your bill.

• Basic electricity meter: The majority of residential and small businesses in Australia have their usage measured by Basic Accumulation meters that have limited functionality. This results in them having limited information to make informed decisions about their consumption habits and costs. There are two types of Basic meters - accumulation meters that measure only the total amount consumed over a period and are manually read by a meter reader, or Time of Use (ToU) meters that record total usage within set periods. These can be aligned to a Time of Use tariff to enable you to pay lower rates for your off-peak usage.
• Interval Time of Use (ToU) meter: These meters record usage every 30 minutes. This means you can have different rates for usage at different times of the day, depending on the tariff you sign up for with your retailer. Some of the benefits of interval meters include more detailed information on your electricity use and the opportunity for pricing plans that provide incentives to reduce your demand during peak times. You can make some significant savings by choosing a plan with discounts for off-peak usage.
• Smart Meters, also known as Advanced Meters (AMI): Smart meters record customer usage and demand in real-time and are remotely read in 30-minute intervals. Smart Meters can be linked to in-home devices so that you can make informed decisions about your consumption. If you live in Victoria, you should by now have a smart meter as they are compulsory across the state and the roll-out is coming to an end.

Because Smart meters record your usage throughout the day, you can benefit from off-peak rates, so make sure you choose a retailer with a suitable Time of Use (ToU) plan. Off-peak rates can be substantially lower than peak rates, so your Smart Meter will let you see when your usage is highest, so you can switch your usage habits to take advantage of the cheaper rates. This might include running your washing machine and dishwasher overnight or setting a timer on your cooling system. If you’re not sure which type of meter you have, you can take a look at your bill or give CheapBills a call.

Choosing a meter type tariff, or Time of Use (ToU) tariff can give you access to cheap electricity rates at different times of the day.

• Single rate – No variation in usage rates (24 x 7 x 365)
• Block rate – a usage rate calculated based on blocks of usage
• Shoulder – shoulder rates sit between peak and off-peak times
• Off-peak – rates change in low usage periods, such as overnight
• Time of use – different times of day incur different rates; same goes for different times of year
• Feed-in tariff – paid to the customer based on the amount of electrcitiy they ‘feed in’ to the grid from their solar panels. It is applied on top of one of the other usage tariffs.

To access ToU tariffs you need a smart meter at your home. You can arrange an upgrade through your retailer, or talk to your CheapBills expert. All homes in Victoria have recently been upgraded to smart meters, so when you compare electricity plans in Melbourne you can save money with a ToU tariff.

In addition, if you have certain appliances on a separate meter then electricity best deals can be found with a controlled load tariff.

NMI stands for National Meter Identifier. Every meter has a unique 11 alphanumeric NMI (10 digits + checksum) to help retailers and distributors correctly match your usage with your account.

The $250 Power Saving Bonus is a one-off payment available to eligible Victorian households to help cover the cost of their electrcitiy bills. Visit Electricity Compare: PSB to apply online. Only one payment will be paid per household.

The PSB is paid to Victorian residents in addition to any discounts or offers from your providers, so it’s still important to compare electricity plans Melbourne to maximise your savings.

• Victoria
• South Australia
• New South Wales
• South-East Queensland
• Tasmania
• Australian Capital Territory

The deregulation of the market in these areas means that customers are now able to compare electricity plans Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and throughout the deregulated areas to secure cheap electricity providers for their homes and businesses.

• Western Australia
• Northern Territory
• Rural and regional Queensland

Although customers in these areas do not have the option to compare providers, they do receive cheap electricity plans through government subsidies, making the cost of their electricity compared to other states affordable.

The Big Three power generators in Australia are EnergyAustralia, AGL and Origin Energy. There are also many other generators producing power from coal, wind, solar, hydro and nuclear sources.

When you are looking for a new provider, particularly during times of rising wholesale costs, the Big Three can often offer lower electricity compared to smaller retailers, because they are both generators and retailers.

Green electricity is produced from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro power.

If you are reviewing your bill with CheapBills, let us know if you are interested in renewable options as well as cheap electricity providers and we will find you the perfect match.

Distributors manage and maintain the poles, wires and pipes that deliver power to your home. Distributors are also responsible for some metering services.

Retailers connect distributors to consumers by ‘on-selling’ electricity to customers, managing customer accounts and providing customer service.

In the competitive market, it is the retailer's role to offer electricity best deals to provide value to their customers.

Your bill will be issued either monthly or quarterly. Often you can choose your preference to match your household budgeting requirements.