Ever look at your power bill and wonder why it's so expensive?
You're not alone. According to Finder's research 26% of Aussies say energy bills are giving them financial stress.
To help you compare and save on your energy bills, we've given a breakdown of what the average electricity and gas bill is in your state using Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker.
If you're paying above the average, chances are you can get a better deal.
Keep in mind: These averages include bills for all household sizes and are only guidelines. The average bill may actually vary.
Here's how quarterly power bills compare across the country, state by state.
Residents of South Australia are paying the most for their bills, with residents of New South Wales coming in a close second. Western Australians pay the least for their electricity overall.
Generally, the more people you have in your household, the more power you'll chew up. Here's how average quarterly bills change based on the number of children in the family.
This reflects what we already knew – children are expensive! The gap between single-child and 3-child families is $200 per quarter or $800 per year.
Not only does each child have their own devices to power, but more children usually means a larger house, with greater heating and cooling costs.
Our survey also grouped quarterly power bills by generation. Here are the averages for each age group.
While bills don't vary much for people under the age of 60, people born into the baby boomer generation (now aged 60 or older) have much lower average bills. This could be due to:
While gas tends to be cheaper than power, that doesn't mean you're always getting a good deal. Comparing your expenses to what others are paying is a great way to reality-check your bill.
In this table, we've grouped average quarterly gas bills state by state. Keep in mind that our figures include every type of household, so they're only guidelines.
Based on this, residents of Victoria pay the most for gas, with those residents in South Australia not too far behind. West Australians are paying the least for their gas use.
| Response | |
|---|---|
| Yes I have both | 67.51% |
| Electricity only | 32.4% |
| I have neither electricity nor gas | 0.09% |
More children means a greater need for cooking and heating. Here's how quarterly gas bills change with family size.
The gap between households with no children and those with 2 is noticeable, increasing average costs by roughly $45 per quarter ($180 per year).
In our survey, we also looked at how gas bills changed by the respondents' age, grouped into generations.
Gas bills drop a little as people age, probably due to senior/pensioner discounts and rebates or smaller household sizes after kids have left.
Your gas bill is made up of 2 main things:
Your electricity bill is made up of 2 main costs:
If you're looking to save money on your energy bill, see our 16 energy-saving tips.
Your energy provider should include a comparison of your usage to other households in your neighbourhood. Usually, this ranks you against the average of various household sizes.
The first thing you'll see is a summary of your power that you've used over the period. We've given an example of an EnergyAustralia bill to help you visualise:
Depending on the provider, this will appear in different spots on your bill, but you should be able to find the average energy usage in your area.
Look out for something that looks like this:
There are a few things that might impact how much electricity you use. These include:
We know our stuff. Our experts review hundreds of plans each month. It's hard work, but we love it.
You can rely on us. We update plan data on dozens of providers daily, and we're constantly fact-checking.
We're here to help. We've helped millions of Aussies find cheaper energy. That's pretty powerful.
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