Guide
How to Read Your Electricity Bill
Every Australian electricity bill has the same basic structure — but the specific line items, rates, and labels vary by retailer in ways that make comparison difficult. This guide explains what every section means, where the important numbers are, and what to look for when something doesn't seem right. If you'd rather skip the manual decode, upload your bill and your Coach reads every line for you.
What does the first page of your bill actually tell you?
The first page of an Australian electricity bill is required to show your account details, billing period, total amount due, and a comparison of your estimated annual cost against the Default Market Offer reference price for your area. The plan name should also appear here — that's where you check whether you're on a standing offer or a market offer.
What are supply charges and usage charges?
A supply charge is a fixed daily fee you pay just to be connected to the grid. It applies regardless of how much electricity you use, even if your usage for the day is zero. Supply charges typically range from around $1 to $1.50 per day depending on your network.
A usage charge is what you pay for the electricity you actually use, measured in cents per kilowatt-hour (c/kWh). On a flat-rate plan, every kWh costs the same. On a time-of-use plan, the rate depends on the time of day.
What is a demand charge — and do you have one?
Demand charges are based on the highest rate of power your home (or business) drew during a billing period — measured in kilowatts (kW), not kilowatt-hours. Most residential bills don't have demand charges, but some networks have introduced opt-in demand tariffs for households with high peak loads.
Demand charges are common on business bills — read the demand charges guide for the full breakdown.
What do the meter read details mean?
Every bill shows the opening read and the closing read for the billing period. The difference between the two — multiplied by your meter's register multiplier (usually 1) — gives your kWh usage for that period.
Each read is labelled either "Actual" or "Estimated". An estimated read is your retailer's guess. If both reads on a bill are actual, the usage figure is reliable. If either is estimated, the usage figure can be materially wrong — and is often the reason a bill seems unexpectedly high.
How do you check your solar feed-in credits?
If you have solar, your bill should show two usage rows: one for what you imported from the grid, and one for what you exported (sometimes labelled "Solar export", "Feed-in", or "Generation"). Multiply your export volume by your feed-in tariff rate to confirm the credit applied to your bill.
Feed-in tariff rates vary by retailer and by plan, and have generally fallen over recent years. Your Coach checks your feed-in rate against current market rates when you upload your bill.
What is the "best offer" comparison your retailer is required to show?
Retailers in the National Electricity Market are required to show a "best offer" comparison on every bill — confirming whether you're on the cheapest plan they currently offer for your usage profile, and naming a cheaper plan if there is one. The rule is set by the AER (aer.gov.au).
If the best-offer message says you could save by switching to a different plan with the same retailer, that's a free saving you can claim with one phone call.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a supply charge and a usage charge?
What is a kilowatt-hour?
What is the AER reference price?
Can my Coach explain a specific charge on my bill?
Related guides
- Why is my electricity bill so high?
- Flat rate vs time of use — which is right for you?
- What are demand charges?
Confused by a charge?
Upload your bill and ask your Coach about any line item — it explains every charge in plain English.
Upload your bill and ask your Coach →Last updated: 24 April 2026