Methodology
Where the data comes from
Every night we download residential electricity market offers published by retailers through the Australian Energy Regulator's Consumer Data Right (CDR) product reference data API (the same source used by Energy Made Easy and Victorian Energy Compare). We query 93 retailer endpoints listed in the AER's "CDR energy retailer base URIs and CDR brands" document; 29 brands currently publish residential electricity market offers. Standing offers (Default/Victorian Default Offers), gas, dual-fuel and business plans are not included.
We do not compare every plan or retailer. Retailers that do not publish residential market offers to the feed, plans with restricted eligibility (e.g. seniors card, membership organisations, existing-customer-only, broker-only), expired plans and plans whose tariffs we cannot price reliably are not ranked. In this update: 246 Restricted eligibility (org member), 641 Restricted eligibility (third party only), 376 Restricted eligibility (see plan terms), 106 Restricted eligibility (senior card), 702 Demand tariff (not ranked in v1), 299 Wholesale / estimated variable pricing (cannot be ranked reliably), 68 Restricted eligibility (see plan name) plan entries were excluded from rankings.
Prices and GST
The CDR standard publishes usage rates, daily supply charges and demand charges excluding GST. We add 10% GST so prices match what you see on bills and government comparison sites (small rounding differences are possible). Solar feed-in tariffs are shown as published (no GST). Fees are shown as published by the retailer.
Household profiles
Each estimate is a full-year simulation: 12 months × weekday/weekend × 24 hours, priced against each plan's tariff periods (seasons), time-of-use windows, stepped (block) rates, time-varying feed-in tariffs and demand charges.
| Profile | Household use | Solar generation | Battery | EV / shifted load | Resulting grid import | Resulting solar export |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard home | 4,000 kWh/yr | – | – | – | 4,000 kWh/yr | 0 kWh/yr |
| Home with solar | 4,000 kWh/yr | 8,000 kWh/yr (≈6.6 kW) | – | – | 1,987 kWh/yr | 5,987 kWh/yr |
| Solar + battery | 4,000 kWh/yr | 8,000 kWh/yr (≈6.6 kW) | 13.5 kWh | – | 313 kWh/yr | 3,896 kWh/yr |
| Home with an EV | 4,000 kWh/yr | – | – | +2,500 kWh/yr EV charging, midnight–5am | 6,500 kWh/yr | 0 kWh/yr |
| Free midday power | 4,000 kWh/yr | – | – | +1,500 kWh/yr flexible load, 11am–2pm | 5,500 kWh/yr | 0 kWh/yr |
Time-of-use split
Household use follows a typical residential daily shape with a morning bump and an evening peak: about 14% of daily use falls 7–10am, 21% 10am–4pm, 40% 4–10pm and 25% 10pm–7am. Use is 17% above average in July and 10% below average in November.
Solar and battery
Solar output follows a daylight curve (6am–7pm) with strong seasonality (July output ≈ 32% of January) and a mix of sunny (45% of days), mixed and cloudy days. Solar first powers the home; surplus charges the battery (13.5 kWh, 90% round-trip efficiency, max 5.0 kW), which then discharges to cover evening and overnight use. Remaining surplus is exported and credited at the plan's feed-in tariff. Where a plan lists several alternative single feed-in tariffs we use the lowest; legacy closed premium schemes are ignored. The battery is not charged from the grid and VPP event payments, battery-specific credits and bonuses are not included (they are shown as text where the plan data mentions them). One national solar profile is used for all states — sunnier locations will export more.
Demand tariffs
In v1, plans with demand charges are not ranked (they appear on retailer pages) because the cost depends heavily on your personal peak demand. When estimated, for plans with demand charges we estimate maximum demand as 1.6× the highest average hourly import inside the demand window, charged per kW per day. Treat these estimates as rough.
What's in and out of the estimate
- Included: usage charges, daily supply charges, demand charges, guaranteed discounts, recurring membership/subscription fees, feed-in credits.
- Not included: conditional discounts (e.g. pay-on-time), sign-up credits and other incentives, controlled-load (off-peak hot water) tariffs, GreenPower options, one-off fees, concessions and rebates.
- Time windows use the times published by the retailer; daylight-saving shifts are not modelled.
Ranking rules
- Plans are ranked by estimated annual cost, lowest first, separately for each distribution network in a postcode.
- At most 2 plans per retailer appear in a top 10, so you see a spread of retailers.
- A postcode/household page is only published if at least 3 eligible plans exist.
- Plans requiring solar are only ranked for solar households, plans requiring a battery only for solar + battery, and plans requiring an EV only for EV households (based on the eligibility text in the data).
- The free-midday page only includes plans with a 0c window covering at least two of the hours 11am–2pm on weekdays.
- Commercial relationships never change the order.
Accuracy
We republish retailer-supplied data automatically and cannot guarantee it is complete or current. Always read the retailer's Basic Plan Information Document (Energy Fact Sheet in Victoria) before switching, and compare using your own usage on Victorian Energy Compare or Energy Made Easy. Spotted an error? Tell us via the contact on the about page.