How we calculate monthly spend

While we use actual meter data to produce bills, we want to help customers by providing a cost estimate during the joining process. We do this with real dollar numbers instead of percentage discounts, as they often come with lots of confusing small print. 

We estimate monthly spend by using published industry data about average levels of energy usage. 

Looking for detailed prices? See our rates for home and business customers. 

Method 

Quite simply, we calculate the annual spent for a household customer that uses around 5,359kWh of power each year - and then divide that by 12. 5,359kWh is the average energy used by a 2-3 person household. Of course, if you are very efficient or have solar then your usage is likely to be less. If you're lucky enough to have a pool then it may be more.

To keep things simple we base the calculations on our 'anytime' rates. These are the simplest prices where the cost per unit is the same at any time of day. 

For small business customers, the usage level can vary from smaller than a household customer right through to around 35 times as much. In our monthly estimates we use 15,000kWh as the annual usage. 

Example

For a household customer in the NSW Ausgrid area, your average monthly spend is calculated like this:
$0.23/kWh x 5359 kWh
plus
$0.95/day x 365 days
divided by 12 months
= $132 per month (after rounding)