Electricity prices in Australia

Australia has no single official price per kWh, so this figure is worked out from the regulated default offers in force from 1 July 2026: each region's yearly bill for a household on a flat-rate tariff without controlled load, including the daily supply charge and GST, divided by the yearly use the regulator assumes. It is the simple average of four regions: Sydney and surrounds (Ausgrid), Victoria, south-east Queensland and South Australia. Default offers are a price ceiling for standing offers, so many market offers are cheaper. Your own bill's usage rate plus supply charge gives a more exact figure.

Checked against AER and ESC default offers on November 4, 2026.

Australia runs two separate grids: the National Electricity Market links Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory have their own systems. Coal still supplies a large share of power in the east, but rooftop solar is now on roughly one in three houses, and wind, large solar farms and batteries are replacing ageing coal plants.

In most of the east, households choose among competing retailers, and regulators set a default offer each July that acts as a ceiling for standing offers. Bills combine a daily supply charge with a usage rate, and many homes pay cheaper controlled-load rates for hot water. Western Australia and the Northern Territory instead have a single government-set household tariff.