EnergyPlans Default Price Index
How many power plans chargethe default price
45%
of 1,514 power plans charge the government’s default price or more
- Below831
- On it505
- Above178
- NSW
- 43%
- VIC
- 44%
- SE QLD
- 55%
- SA
- 50%
The default price is the government’s benchmark for each network, set each year by the AER (ESC in Victoria). Fact sheets call it the reference price.
Data as at 4 November 2026. Next release 2 December 2026.
Every month we line up the government reference price against the cheapest plan we track, zone by zone. Right now the gap runs from $227 in Evoenergy to $559 in Endeavour Energy. That gap is what you keep by switching.
Savings shown are the difference between the regulated reference price and the cheapest plan we track for that zone, at the AER or ESC benchmark annual usage, single rate, no controlled load, no solar export, GST included. Your own saving will differ with your usage, tariff and meter. These are not the cheapest plans in the market, only the cheapest we track.
Am I on the default price? Check your plan in about 30 seconds.
Rates as at 4 November 2026 · Verified 4 November 2026 · 11 regulated zones · 9,900+ plans tracked
Month on month
Share of plans on or above the default price, at each month end.
- September 2026
- 46%
- October 2026
- 44%
Down 2 percentage points on September 2026. The trend chart starts once three months of data are in.
Method
- Plans counted: generally available, single-rate, residential market offers on the 10 networks with a default price (Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential, Energex, SA Power Networks, CitiPower, Powercor, Jemena, AusNet, United Energy).
- Annual cost: at the regulator's typical usage for each network, GST included.
- "On the default price" means within $5 a year of it. "Above" is more than $5 over; "below" is more than $5 under.
- The Index is the share on or above the default price, rounded to a whole percent, using data as at the last day of each month.
- Months before October are rebuilt from our daily price history; plan eligibility uses each plan's current details.
For media
Free to quote with a link to this page. Data and charts for media: media@energyplans.com.au.
The gap: what switching saves
Each bar runs on a shared scale. The quiet steel is what you pay on the cheapest plan we track. The gold is the gap to the regulated reference price: the money on the table.
| Zone | State | Type | The gap | Reference price | Cheapest tracked | You keep | % | Plans tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endeavour EnergyNSW : DMO | NSW | DMO | Reference price$2,328 | Cheapest tracked$1,769Tango Energy | You keep$559 | You keep (%)24% | Plans tracked195 | |
| Essential EnergyNSW : DMO | NSW | DMO | Reference price$2,604 | Cheapest tracked$2,063Tango Energy | You keep$541 | You keep (%)21% | Plans tracked199 | |
| AusgridNSW : DMO | NSW | DMO | Reference price$1,899 | Cheapest tracked$1,440Tango Energy | You keep$459 | You keep (%)24% | Plans tracked187 | |
| SA Power NetworksSA : DMO | SA | DMO | Reference price$2,334 | Cheapest tracked$1,8871st Energy | You keep$447 | You keep (%)19% | Plans tracked101 | |
| EnergexQLD : DMO | QLD | DMO | Reference price$1,988 | Cheapest tracked$1,574GloBird Energy | You keep$414 | You keep (%)21% | Plans tracked186 | |
| United EnergyVIC : VDO | VIC | VDO | Reference price$1,529 | Cheapest tracked$1,122GloBird Energy | You keep$407 | You keep (%)27% | Plans tracked124 | |
| PowercorVIC : VDO | VIC | VDO | Reference price$1,633 | Cheapest tracked$1,233GloBird Energy | You keep$400 | You keep (%)24% | Plans tracked124 | |
| AusNetVIC : VDO | VIC | VDO | Reference price$1,747 | Cheapest tracked$1,3591st Energy | You keep$388 | You keep (%)22% | Plans tracked126 | |
| JemenaVIC : VDO | VIC | VDO | Reference price$1,563 | Cheapest tracked$1,181GloBird Energy | You keep$382 | You keep (%)24% | Plans tracked124 | |
| CitiPowerVIC : VDO | VIC | VDO | Reference price$1,481 | Cheapest tracked$1,111GloBird Energy | You keep$370 | You keep (%)25% | Plans tracked124 | |
| EvoenergyACT : ICRC | ACT | ICRC | Reference price$2,400 | Cheapest tracked$2,173Origin Energy | You keep$227 | You keep (%)9% | Plans tracked115 |
Savings shown are the difference between the regulated reference price and the cheapest plan we track for that zone, at the AER or ESC benchmark annual usage, single rate, no controlled load, no solar export, GST included. Your own saving will differ with your usage, tariff and meter. These are not the cheapest plans in the market, only the cheapest we track.
Commercial relationship
How we make money
EnergyPlans is free to use. Here is where the money comes from.
Where the prices come from. Plan prices and the EnergyPlans Default Price Index come from the government's whole-of-market Consumer Data Right feed, the data retailers have to publish. We refresh it every day. No retailer pays us to be listed, to rank higher, or to be shown as a good deal. Rankings follow the method on our methodology page. A plan in that feed can still be left out of a cheapest figure where that method says so.
Right now that feed includes 9,900+ plans from 29 retailers.
How we earn. When you decide to switch, we hand you to Compare & Connect, operated by Residential Connections Pty Ltd and owned by Origin Energy Limited. If you sign up to a plan through them, they pay us a small commission. That is what keeps the data and guides free. You do not pay us. Origin's ownership of our partner does not change the prices we publish or the order we rank plans.
Worth knowing. Compare & Connect can only sign you up to the retailers they have agreements with. That may not be every retailer you see on our site. If the plan you want is with a retailer they don't cover, you can go to that retailer directly, or use the government's free comparison site, Energy Made Easy (energymadeeasy.gov.au). In Victoria, the government's free comparison site is Victorian Energy Compare.
The commission is not added to your bill, and it never changes the prices we show or the order we rank plans. You choose the plan.
- Zones covered
- 11
- Period
- DMO 8, effective 1 July 2026
- Average gap
- $418
- Plans tracked
- 9,900+
How the gap has moved
Reference price against the cheapest plan we track, over time.
Between 2 November 2026 and 3 November 2026, the gap in Endeavour Energy held steady at $559.
By state
The index covers the ten regulated DMO and VDO zones. Open a state to compare plans across its distribution zones.
New South Wales
Compare NSW plans- Ausgrid
- Endeavour Energy
- Essential Energy
Queensland
Compare QLD plans- Energex
South Australia
Compare SA plans- SA Power Networks
- Evoenergy
Victoria
Compare VIC plans- CitiPower
- Powercor
- Jemena
- AusNet
- United Energy
Methodology
What the reference price is
The Default Market Offer, set by the AER, and the Victorian Default Offer, set by the ESC, are the regulated reference prices retailers must quote their offers against. They act as a cap and a common comparison point, not as the cheapest price available.
How we work out the cheapest plan
We deliberately exclude plans whose headline rate is not what a typical customer pays. That means wholesale passthrough plans, where the rate follows the spot market and the published price is an estimate; plans requiring a paid membership, mandatory direct debit, bill smoothing, or a bundle; plans open only to new customers or closed to existing ones; and time of use and demand tariffs, which cannot be costed on a single rate. Those plans remain in the plans we track and our plan counts. They cannot be the cheapest plan we publish.
For each zone we take the lowest annual cost among the plans we track, at that zone’s benchmark usage, single rate, with no controlled load and no solar export assumed.
The usage benchmark
Annual cost at the AER and ESC representative residential usage benchmark for each zone, single rate, no controlled load, no solar.
- Ausgrid (NSW)3,900 kWh/yr
- Endeavour Energy (NSW)4,900 kWh/yr
- Essential Energy (NSW)4,600 kWh/yr
- Energex (QLD)4,600 kWh/yr
- SA Power Networks (SA)4,000 kWh/yr
- Evoenergy (ACT)6,500 kWh/yr
- CitiPower (VIC)4,000 kWh/yr
- Powercor (VIC)4,000 kWh/yr
- Jemena (VIC)4,000 kWh/yr
- AusNet (VIC)4,000 kWh/yr
- United Energy (VIC)4,000 kWh/yr
What this covers
The ten DMO and VDO regulated zones across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. WA, the ACT, Tasmania and the NT sit outside the DMO and VDO framework and are not included.
The honest limit
We compare the plans we track, not every plan in the market. The gap we publish is the saving against the cheapest plan we track in each zone.
How often it updates
We refresh the index against the latest Consumer Data Right product data and the current DMO and VDO determinations. The rates shown are as at 4 November 2026, and our pipeline last verified the panel on 4 November 2026.
Read the full methodology or the author profile.
Common questions
- What is the energy reference price?
- The reference price is the regulated benchmark retailers must quote their offers against. In most of the country it is the Default Market Offer set by the AER, and in Victoria it is the Victorian Default Offer set by the ESC. It is a cap and a comparison point, not the cheapest price available.
- How do you work out the cheapest plan?
- For each distribution zone we take the lowest annual cost among the plans we track, calculated at that zone’s representative usage benchmark, single rate, with no controlled load and no solar export assumed. We then line that figure up against the reference price for the same zone.
- What usage figure do you use?
- Each zone uses its own AER or ESC representative residential usage figure, measured in kWh per year. We show the benchmark for every zone so the comparison is transparent and like for like.
- How often is the index updated?
- We refresh the index against the latest Consumer Data Right product data and the current DMO and VDO determinations. The last-updated date shown on the page is the real date the figures were last verified.
- Does this cover every plan in the market?
- No. We compare the plans we track, not every plan in the market. The gap we publish is the saving against the cheapest plan we track in each zone, which is an honest floor rather than a claim about every offer that exists.
- Are wholesale or variable-rate plans included?
- The cheapest-plan comparison covers fixed-price plans. Wholesale passthrough products, where your rate varies with the spot market, are excluded because their published rates are estimates rather than a set price. They still appear among the plans we track and in our plan counts; they just cannot be the cheapest plan we track.
- What about plans with conditions like mandatory direct debit?
- The cheapest-tracked figure reflects plans a typical customer can obtain on an unconditional basis, matching the basis of the reference price. Plans that require mandatory direct debit or bill smoothing, membership or bundling, or that are open to new customers only or closed to existing customers, are noted separately and excluded from the headline cheapest. They still appear among the plans we track and in our plan counts.
- Why do prices differ between distribution zones?
- Network costs vary by distribution zone, and so do the representative usage benchmarks and the wholesale and regulatory settings behind each reference price. That is why the same retailer can quote different prices in neighbouring zones, and why we report zone by zone rather than as a single national number.
See what you’d actually pay
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Reviewed by James Baker, Founder, EnergyPlans.com.au, against our methodology. Rates as at 4 November 2026 · Verified 4 November 2026.