Electricity prices per kWh in every state, 2026-27

How much is electricity per kWh in each state?

These are the rates our savings calculator uses when you don't enter your own. Where a regulator sets a default price, we use it: the Australian Energy Regulator's Default Market Offer for New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia, and the Essential Services Commission's Victorian Default Offer. In Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory we use the main retailer's published standard plan. The plan each row comes from is in the last column.

The rates are a reference point, not your price. Most states have several network areas with different charges (the plan column shows the area each row uses), retailers sell many plans above and below the default, and time-of-use plans charge different rates through the day. Your bill shows your actual rates.

What makes up your electricity price?

Almost every household bill has the same parts:

• Usage charge, in cents per kWh: what you pay for each unit of electricity you buy from the grid. On a flat-rate plan it's one price all day; on a time-of-use plan there are peak, off-peak and often shoulder rates, with the peak usually in the late afternoon and evening.
• Daily supply charge, in cents per day: a fixed amount for being connected, whatever you use. At the reference plans above it ranges from $228 to $701 a year. Solar and batteries don't reduce it while you stay connected to the grid.
• Feed-in tariff, in cents per kWh: the credit for solar you export. It's a credit on your bill, not a payment, and it's much lower than the usage charge. See feed-in tariffs in every state.
• Controlled load (on some homes): a cheaper rate for a separately metered circuit, usually an electric hot water system, that the network switches on at set times.
• Demand charges (on some plans): a charge based on your highest use in a short window during the month, on top of the usage charge.

How do you read the rates on your bill?

Look for the tariff or plan details, usually on the second page. Write down each usage rate and the times it applies, the daily supply charge, and your feed-in rate. Check whether the prices shown include GST and whether a discount applies only if you pay on time. Your total kWh for the period and the number of days let you work out your average daily use, which is the number that matters most for sizing solar and a battery.

In areas with a Default Market Offer or the Victorian Default Offer, retailers must show how their offers compare with the reference price, which makes plans easier to compare. The government's own comparison sites, Energy Made Easy and, in Victoria, Victorian Energy Compare, list every plan in your area.

What do these prices mean for solar?

The gap between what you pay for a kWh and what you're credited for exporting one is what drives the value of solar. Every kWh of your own solar you use at home saves the full usage rate; every kWh you export earns only the feed-in rate. At these reference plans, using a kWh yourself is worth about 3 times exporting it in Tasmania, and about 14 times in Victoria.

That's why it pays to run the dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump or hot water in the middle of the day, and why a solar system sized to your use usually earns more per panel than a much bigger one that mostly exports. The last column is an upper bound for a battery that stores 10 kWh of solar you would otherwise export and uses it in the evening every single day; real batteries lose some energy, and don't fill on cloudy days, so they earn less. See is a battery worth it in 2026 and what size battery you need.

What a system costs is the other half of the sum: see solar panel cost and solar battery cost.

Are electricity prices going up?

Over 2015-16 to 2025-26, household electricity prices rose about 3.3% a year on average (ABS Consumer Price Index, electricity). Our long-term savings figures assume 3% a year. Prices can rise more or less than this, or fall, and default and regulated prices are usually reset each 1 July. Higher prices make each kWh of solar you use yourself worth more; they don't change what you're credited for exports unless your retailer changes its feed-in rate.

Free power in the middle of the day: the Solar Sharer Offer

From 1 July 2026, larger retailers in New South Wales (11am to 2pm), South Australia (12pm to 3pm) and south-east Queensland (11am to 2pm) must offer a plan with three free hours of electricity every day, up to 24 kWh a day. An optional plan from larger retailers: 3 free hours in the middle of every day, up to 24 kWh a day. You need a smart meter, not solar; not available in embedded networks. Supply and usage outside the free hours are still charged, and those rates can be higher than your current plan's, so compare before you switch. See the Solar Sharer Offer.

Rebates and programs in your state

Federal rebates for solar and batteries apply everywhere; some states add their own programs. Each state's page lists what's open now:

• Solar and battery rebates in New South Wales
• Solar and battery rebates in Victoria
• Solar and battery rebates in Queensland
• Solar and battery rebates in South Australia
• Solar and battery rebates in Western Australia
• Solar and battery rebates in Tasmania
• Solar and battery rebates in the ACT
• Solar and battery rebates in the Northern Territory