Guides
Straight answers about bills, tariffs and switching. Written by the people who built the engine.
Worth your time
How to Read Your Electricity Bill, Line by Line
Every line on an Australian electricity bill explained in order: NMI, daily supply charge, usage rates, peak and off-peak, discounts, meter reads and the reference price box.
ReadAm I Overpaying for Electricity? Four Figures
Four numbers on your electricity bill answer the question. Where to find each one, what a competitive figure looks like, and when the comparison is worth running.
ReadWhat Is a Demand Charge on an Electricity Bill?
A demand charge bills your highest rate of electricity use, not the amount you used. How it is calculated, how to reduce it, whether you can opt out, and what it does to a business bill.
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54 guides shown
How to
How Fix Your Bill Works
The whole thing, start to finish: show us your bill, check what we read, see your real comparison, switch if you want to. No computer skills required.
ReadGetting Your Bill as a PDF on Your Phone
Step by step, for iPhone and Android: finding your bill in your email or your energy company's app, saving the PDF, and uploading it.
ReadGetting Your Bill as a PDF on a Computer
Step by step, for Mac and Windows: finding your bill in your email or your energy company's online portal, downloading it, and uploading it.
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Bill basics
Why Is My Electricity Bill So High? Read the Bill
High electricity bill? The answer is already printed on it. Upload your bill and we read your usage, tariff and rates, then show you what you should be paying.
ReadHow to Read Your Electricity Bill, Line by Line
Every line on an Australian electricity bill explained in order: NMI, daily supply charge, usage rates, peak and off-peak, discounts, meter reads and the reference price box.
ReadElectricity Tariffs Explained: Single Rate to Demand
Single rate, time of use, controlled load, demand and block tariffs in plain language: how each one charges you and which suits how your household uses power.
ReadThe Average Electricity Bill in Australia (2026-27)
What Australians pay for electricity in 2026-27: the AER and ESC regulator benchmarks for NSW, Queensland, SA and Victoria, and why no average fits your house.
ReadHow to Choose an NBN Plan: Speed, Tech and Support
Choosing an NBN plan is more than price. The speed your usage really needs, what FTTP, FTTN and HFC mean at your address, support quality, and add-ons decoded.
ReadWhat NBN Providers Pay for Wholesale vs What You Pay
NBN Co publishes exactly what providers pay for every speed tier. The 2026-27 wholesale prices, what the gap between wholesale and retail buys you, decoded.
ReadAre You Overpaying on Your Broadband Bill?
Speed tier, evening performance, promo expiry and bundled extras. How to read an Australian broadband bill and judge whether the plan still earns its price.
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High bills
My Electricity Bill Doubled: What Actually Happened
An electricity bill that doubled has a cause you can find. The four that account for almost every case, how to spot each one on your own bill, and what to do next.
ReadElectricity Bill Spike: Is It the Season or the Plan?
A spiking electricity bill is either usage, season or price. How to tell which from the figures on the bill, and why a single quarter misleads a comparison.
ReadWhy Your Electricity Bill Went Up in 2026
Rebates ending, price resets and default offers: what changed for Australian electricity bills in 2026, and how to see what it did to yours specifically.
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Overpaying
The Loyalty Penalty on Australian Electricity Bills
Staying put costs money. How the loyalty penalty works in the Australian retail electricity market, what the ACCC found, and how to check your own exposure.
ReadAm I Overpaying for Electricity? Four Figures
Four numbers on your electricity bill answer the question. Where to find each one, what a competitive figure looks like, and when the comparison is worth running.
ReadIs My Electricity Plan Too Expensive?
How to judge whether your electricity plan is genuinely expensive: reference price benchmarks, supply charges, conditional discounts and what to compare against.
ReadWhat the ACCC Found on Electricity Loyalty Penalties
The ACCC's retail electricity monitoring, in plain language: what it confirms about long-tenure customers, and what it cannot tell you about your own household.
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Seasons and accuracy
Summer vs Winter Electricity Bills: The Difference
Why your summer and winter electricity bills diverge so far, what a seasonal swing does to a plan comparison, and how to read a single bill correctly.
ReadSeasonal Electricity Comparison: One Bill Is Enough
A single quarterly bill can still produce a reliable annual comparison, if the seasonal position is accounted for. How seasonal extrapolation works, step by step.
ReadHow Accurate Is an Electricity Comparison?
What determines the accuracy of an electricity plan comparison: bill quality, seasonal position, tariff complexity, and why naming the evidence beats printing a percentage.
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Solar
Is Your Solar Feed-in Tariff Still Competitive?
Feed-in rates drift. How to find yours on the bill, what a competitive rate looks like by state, and why net annual cost matters more than the headline FiT.
ReadHow to Read the Solar Section of Your Electricity Bill
Export volumes, feed-in credits and net billing decoded. Where the solar figures sit on an Australian electricity bill and what each one is actually telling you.
ReadComparing Solar Feed-in Tariff Rates the Right Way
A high feed-in rate stapled to expensive usage rates can still lose. How to compare solar plans on net annual cost, and where export limits change the answer.
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Gas
How to Read Your Gas Bill, Line by Line
A plain-English walkthrough of every line on an Australian gas bill: the MIRN, estimated reads, daily supply charges, megajoule blocks and GST.
ReadGas Megajoules Explained: Why Gas Bills Use MJ, Not kWh
Why gas is billed in megajoules, how your meter's cubic metres become MJ, and why 1 kWh equals 3.6 MJ is never a cost conversion on its own.
ReadThe Gas Supply Charge Explained: What You Pay for Using Nothing
What the daily supply charge on a gas bill covers, why it varies by distribution zone, and how to weigh it against usage rates with your real bill.
ReadWhy Is My Gas Bill So High?
Winter load, estimated meter reads, catch-up corrections and stepped rates explain most gas bill spikes. Here is how to diagnose your actual bill.
ReadResidential Gas Rates by State: How Pricing Really Differs
How residential gas pricing differs across NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS and the ACT: distribution zones, tariff structures, and why no state caps gas prices.
ReadSwitching Gas Retailers: How It Works and How Long It Takes
What actually happens when you switch gas retailers: the transfer process, why timing depends on your meter read cycle, and why gas has no price cap.
ReadHow to Read a Combined Dual-Fuel Bill
A combined gas and electricity statement is two bills in one. How to read each fuel section, the read-type flags, and the numbers that matter.
ReadGas and Electricity Bundling: When It Actually Saves Money
Does putting gas and electricity with one retailer really save money? The three-total test that answers it honestly, priced on your actual usage.
ReadGas Hot Water vs Electric: The Honest Framework
Gas or electric hot water has no universal answer. The four factors an honest running-cost comparison must include, and why hidden assumptions fail.
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Comparison sites
Are Energy Comparison Sites Accurate?
What makes an energy comparison accurate or not: the usage figure it starts from, the plan set it searches, and whether it ever asks what you currently pay.
ReadPostcode vs Bill: Two Ways to Compare Energy Plans
Postcode-based comparison assumes a household. Bill-based comparison reads yours. Why the two produce different answers, and which one you should act on.
ReadEnergy Comparison Sites in Australia: The 2026 Picture
What has and hasn't changed since CHOICE's investigation: panel coverage, usage assumptions, and the two questions worth asking of any comparison, ours included.
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Business energy
Business Electricity Plans, Compared on Your Actual Bill
Upload a business electricity bill and we price the published plans available at your site against your own usage, tariff and demand, then rank by projected annual cost. No callback, no panel.
ReadHow to Read a Business Electricity Bill
Every line on a business electricity bill explained: demand and capacity charges, kVA, itemised network charges, the NMI, the GST basis, and what to check before you compare plans.
ReadWhat Is a Demand Charge on an Electricity Bill?
A demand charge bills your highest rate of electricity use, not the amount you used. How it is calculated, how to reduce it, whether you can opt out, and what it does to a business bill.
ReadHow Do Business Energy Brokers Get Paid?
Business energy brokers are paid by retailers, through upfront commission, ongoing commission or a margin built into your rate. What that means for the plans you are shown, and when a broker is genuinely the right call.
ReadAm I a Small Business Energy Customer?
Small business energy customer thresholds by state, from the regulators who set them, plus the different tests retailers publish for the same question: spend thresholds, spend bands, and an ABN with no consumption test at all.
ReadkW vs kVA on a Business Electricity Bill
kW measures the power your equipment turns into work, kVA measures what the network has to deliver to supply it. What the difference means when your demand charge is billed in kVA.
ReadWhy Is My Business Electricity Bill So High?
The reasons business electricity bills run high, in the order they usually turn out to be the cause: demand resets, contract rollover, peak windows, capacity charges and network increases.
ReadGST on Business Energy Prices: Inclusive or Exclusive?
Business energy rates are usually published without GST and household rates with it. What that means when you compare, and why one basis applied once is the only way the arithmetic works.
ReadWhat the DMO and VDO Mean for Business Electricity
The Default Market Offer and the Victorian Default Offer cap what a retailer may charge a small business on a standing offer, and set the reference price plans are advertised against. What the 2026-27 decisions changed, which regulator covers your site, and why a lower ceiling may change your bill by nothing.
ReadHow Business Time-of-Use Windows Change Your Annual Cost
A time-of-use tariff charges a different rate depending on the hour you trade, so two businesses with identical annual usage pay different amounts. How the windows are set, why they differ by network, and what the split does to your annual cost.
ReadHow to Compare Business Electricity Without a Broker Call
A step by step way to compare business electricity yourself, using the bill you already have. What a bill review is, how a panel changes the answer, what to check on the result, and when a broker is genuinely the right call.
ReadBusiness Electricity Plans in NSW, Compared on Your Actual Bill
Upload a NSW business electricity bill and we price the published plans available at your site against your own usage, tariff and demand. Who sets the NSW default price, which network you sit behind, and where the small customer line falls.
ReadBusiness Electricity Plans in Victoria, Compared on Your Bill
Upload a Victorian business electricity bill and we price the published plans available at your site against your own usage, tariff and demand. Who sets the Victorian Default Offer, the five distribution zones, and where the small business line falls.
ReadBusiness Electricity Plans in Queensland, Compared on Your Bill
Upload a Queensland business electricity bill and we price the published plans available at your site against your own usage, tariff and demand. Why South East Queensland and regional Queensland are priced under two different regimes.
ReadBusiness Gas, Explained for People Who Have a Business to Run
A plain-language guide to small business gas in Australia: market plans, MIRNs, stepped rates, estimated reads, and why comparing every published plan in your state matters.
ReadGas Versus Electricity: Where the Money Actually Lives in Each Bill
How electricity and gas bills charge you differently: time-of-use and demand versus stepped per-MJ blocks, and why each fuel needs its own diagnosis.
ReadGas for Commercial Kitchens and Small Manufacturers: What Heavy Users Should Check
What cafes, bakeries, laundromats and small manufacturers should check on a gas bill: stepped rate blocks, seasonal tariffs, estimated reads and more.
ReadWhat If My Business Is Above the Small Customer Threshold?
Above the small customer threshold, retailers stop publishing a price for your site and start quoting one. The thresholds by state from the regulators who set them, the three ways businesses buy above the line, what is inside a quoted price, and what to ask before you sign.
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