Frequently asked questions

Your distributor (also called your network) owns the poles, wires and meter that bring power to your home, it's different from your retailer, the company you pay. Your distributor is set by where you live, so you can't change it.

The surest way: your electricity bill.

• Look for a line that names the distributor or network, often near “network charges” or in the fine print.
• Your NMI (National Meter Identifier, an 10–11 character code on your bill) is tied to your distributor.

By state, the distributors are:

• NSW: Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy
• VIC: CitiPower, Powercor, AusNet Services, United Energy, Jemena
• QLD: Energex (south-east), Ergon (regional)
• SA: SA Power Networks
• ACT: Evoenergy · TAS: TasNetworks

We can also estimate your distributor from your postcodewhen you start a comparison, but postcode boundaries sometimes cross two networks, so it isn't perfect. Your bill is the definitive answer.

It matters because time-based plans, free-period, EV, and demand tariffs, need a smart (interval) meterthat records when you use power, not just how much. Here's how to tell them apart:

Three quick checks:

• Look at the meter: a digital screen that cycles through several numbers points to a smart meter; a spinning disc or a single fixed row of digits points to an old one.
• Check your retailer's app: if it shows daily or half-hourly usage graphs, you have a smart meter.
• Read your bill: it may say “interval” or “smart meter” under the meter details.

In Victoria, almost every home has had a smart meter since 2014. Elsewhere, you can request one, since December 2025 your network must install one when you ask. If you don't have one yet, our meter data guide walks you through it.

Your retailer is the company that bills you and that you can switch (AGL, Origin, a smaller brand, and so on). Your distributorowns the local poles, wires and meter, and is fixed by your address. You choose your retailer; you don't choose your distributor.

We help residential energy accounts (not business or commercial) across the national electricity market: NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS and the ACT. WA and the NT run separate markets we don't cover. If your building or body corporate chooses your retailer (an embedded network), plan comparison isn't possible, but we can still help with your rights and options.

Yes, free for you, with no account required. We don't take commissions when you switch, and we don't take paid placements in our results. The platform is funded by enterprise customers who licence the engine behind this site, networks, governments, comparison services, retailers and electrification companies. See how it works.

No. The details you enter stay in a privacy-governed environment and aren't sold or used for anything other than giving you your result. For the meter-data tools, your file is processed in your browser, we never receive your raw meter file.

We don't switch you over, we're an advisor, not a switching service. When you find a plan that suits, you sign up directly with that retailer (we link you to their own page) or call them. The switch is free, there's no interruption to your power, and your new retailer handles the changeover with your old one.

No. Switching is just a billing change, the same poles, wires and meter keep supplying your home. Nothing is disconnected, no one visits, and there's no gap in supply. You may get a final bill from your old retailer for usage up to the switch date.

Usually yes. If your name is on the electricity account (most renters pay their own power bill), you can switch retailer like any other customer, your landlord isn't involved. What needs your landlord's cooperation is the bigger stuff like solar or a hot-water upgrade. Your state also sets minimum energy standards for rentals, see your rights.

A demand tariff charges you on your single highest 30-minute spike of usage in a month, on top of your normal usage charge, so one burst (oven + aircon + kettle together) can cost you all month. Many customers are put on one automatically by their network without being told. In most cases you can ask your retailer to move you to a flat or time-of-use tariff. If your data shows you're on one, we'll flag it in your results.

A controlled load is a separate circuit, usually electric hot water or a pool pump, metered on its own and charged at a cheaper rate, because the network only powers it at certain times (often overnight). It shows as a separate line on your bill and is billed separately from the rest of your home.

These plans give you free electricity during a window in the middle of the day (when there's surplus solar on the grid). They only pay off if you can use or store power then, running the dishwasher, washing, pool pump, or charging a battery or EV at midday. They need a smart meter. Our Free Midday Check models whether one would actually save you money.

A federal scheme from 1 July 2026 (NSW, SA and south-east QLD) requiring retailers to offer at least one plan with 3+ hours of free midday electricity. Victoria has its own version, the Midday Power Saver, from 1 October 2026. Both need a smart meter and you opt in through your retailer.

• Compare a plan, for flat-rate and simple time-of-use plans from your bill, with meter-data modelling for the complex ones (seasonal, demand, solar-export and battery). The tool surfaces the right method for your situation.
• Free Midday Check, if you're considering a free-period / midday plan.
• EV Charging Planner, if you have, or are getting, an EV.
• Electrify, if you're weighing up solar, a battery, or going off gas.

It depends on what you give us. A rough postcode-and-spend estimate carries a wide band (±25%); upload your actual meter data and it tightens to about ±5%. We always show the basis for a result and a confidence range, and we tell you when a number is an estimate rather than modelled from your real usage. They're a guide to help you decide, always confirm rates on the retailer's site before switching.

We keep a curated database of plans and rates and refresh it regularly, but retailers change prices often, so a plan's rates may have moved since we last checked. Treat our results as a strong shortlist, and confirm the exact rates on the retailer's own site or fact sheet before you commit.

Quite possibly. Every state and territory offers energy concessions or rebates, for pensioners, concession-card holders, families, people on life-support equipment, and households doing it tough. They're applied by your retailer once you register, and they're separate from which plan you're on (so you keep them when you switch). Check your eligibility with your state government or your retailer, it's one of the most-missed savings there is.

You have more protection than you might think. Every retailer must offer a hardship program (payment plans, extra time, help accessing grants), and while you're genuinely engaging with it you can't be disconnected. Start by calling your retailer and asking for it directly. If you're not getting help, your free, independent energy ombudsman (EWON in NSW, EWOV in VIC, EWOQ in QLD, EWOSA in SA, and equivalents elsewhere) can step in. Switching to a cheaper plan can help too, but the hardship program is the immediate safety net.

Contact a retailer a few business days before you move in and give them your new address (or its NMI) and your move-in date, they'll arrange the connection. Moving is actually the easiest time to get on a better plan, since you're choosing from scratch. Run a comparison for the new address first so you start on the right one.

A standing offer is the basic, regulated plan a retailer must make available, its price can't exceed the government reference price (the Default Market Offer in NSW, SE QLD and SA, or the Victorian Default Offer in VIC). A market offer is everything else retailers compete with, usually cheaper, sometimes with conditions. We show each plan against that reference price so you can see how far above or below it sits.

Be a little careful with headline discounts. Many are conditional, you only get them if you pay on time or by direct debit, and a big percentage off an inflated base rate can still cost more than a plan with a low rate and no discount. That's why we compare the estimated annual cost, not the discount number. Always look at the dollars, not the percentage.

It's the rate your retailer pays you for solar power you export to the grid (shown as a credit on your bill). Feed-in rates vary between retailers and have fallen over time, so a high feed-in rate shouldn't be the only thing you chase, using your own solar as you generate it is usually worth more than exporting it. We factor feed-in into the comparison where it applies.

Electricity is our focus today, and it's where the bigger savings and the trickier plans usually are. Gas is part of the whole-home picture, both as a simple gas comparison and as the question of whether going all-electric pays off, which our electrification advisorlooks at. A dedicated gas comparison is on our roadmap. If you bundle gas and electricity for convenience, just check it's actually cheaper, a bundle isn't automatically the best deal on each.