nsw electricity: energy providers in sydney

New South Wales is the largest electricity market in Australia with roughly 3 million residential customers and 350,000 business customers. There are three electricity networks across the state, all of which are currently owned by NSW Government-owned companies: Energy Australia, Integral Energy and Country Energy. 

The NSW Government, through IPART, each year sets the maximum prices that can be charged to households on regulated price plans. Power companies have the option to charge below or above these regulated rates for customers on market contracts, however, this does not occur very often in practice. Almost all energy retailers use the regulated prices as their standard prices and then offer discounts on these prices to entice customers.

electricity suppliers in sydney & nsw

Electricity suppliers, officially called electricity retailers, are companies that sell or retail electricity directly to consumers and/or businesses. Retailers do not necessarily own any wires and poles; they simply purchase electricity wholesale and resell it to the end consumer. They pay the electricity network operators a fee for using their networks to supply power to households and businesses.

There are currently twelve power companies selling electricity to households in NSW:

• ActewAGL
• AGL
• Australian Power & Gas
• Country Energy
• Dodo Power & Gas
• Energy Australia
• Integral Energy
• Lumo Energy
• Origin Energy
• Powerdirect
• Red Energy
• TRUenergy

sydney & nsw electricity prices

The amount you pay for electricity comprises a fixed supply charge (priced in cents per day) plus usage charges per kilowatt hour of electricity that you use (priced in cents per kWh). The more power that you consume in your home the higher your usage charges will be so there is always an incentive to use less power.

Power prices usually differ depending upon where you live. For example, if you live in Sydney and its surrounding suburbs you will usually pay a lower supply charge per day and usage price per kWh than someone living in, say, Dubbo. The prices differ to reflect the fact that it costs less to supply a house in a big city compared to the country; in the city there are more people and distances are shorter so the costs to supply electricity will be lower.

Electricity prices also vary depending upon the type of meter you have at your home. Many homes have single-rate meters, which means you pay the same price per kWh regardless of when you use electricity. However, an increasing number of households have time-of-use meters (also known as smart meters) where you pay more for usage during business hours but then much less for usage in the evenings, night time and on weekends. Some households might have off-peak meters tied to specific appliances such as hot water or storage heating that work only at night time; in such cases they pay a lower price for this type of usage.

As the price you pay for electricity varies depending upon where you live in NSW, how much you use, what type of meter you have and the supplier you choose it is not a simple task to compare electricity prices in Sydney and NSW. However, Switchwise makes it easy - simply enter your postcode on our homepage, answer a few questions and we can calculate the costs and savings you could be getting from other electricity suppliers in your suburb.