Understanding your bill

As an electrical distributor we don’t issue your bills, we leave that up to the energy retailers such as Origin Energy. Despite this, we do often get asked bill related questions. It can be confusing to understand your bill, so to help you make light of it all, here’s a quick rundown of what a typical electricity bill contains and what it all means.

Where your energy bill comes from

Any home or business located within the Endeavour Energy network needs to sign up to a licensed energy retailer in order to be connected and have access to the electricity supply.

Your bill shows your energy usage and itemised charges and rates for the billing period, based on the plan you selected when you first signed up.

What makes up your bill

The bill you receive from your retailer won’t look the same as your neighbours if they’re with another retailer, but most electricity bills will include:

Account details

This captures things like your account number, invoice number, the date the bill was issued and the property address for the account. In addition your bill will include your meter number and should match the number on your meter.

Usage summary

Here you’ll see a snapshot of how much electricity you used during the billing period. It shows your average daily usage and costs, how this compares to your last bill and same time last year. It’s often displayed as a graph.

Account summary

This is a summary of the total amount outstanding on your account (if any), followed by new charges and the total amount due.

Electricity charges

This is a breakdown of your usage, supply costs and any other charges. Here you’ll also see the details of your meter reads.  The meter readings that have been used to calculate the amount of energy you've used during the billing period will be measured in kilowatt hours or kWh.

How your energy use compares

Some bills will include comparison data of your suburb to see how your average daily use compares with other households in the area.

Solar credits

If you generate solar, your bill will include a breakdown of your solar feed-in credit for the period.

What you get charged for

Your Retailer calculates your electricity bill for the billing period based on your electricity consumption as measured by your meter(s) or estimated if they have been unable to obtain an actual meter read .If your bill is based on an estimate of how much you’ve used, this should be clearly marked on the bill.

Your bill is made up of a supply charge and usage charge and may include any discounts, rebates or concessions (if you’re eligible to receive them).

Supply charge

This is a daily cost you pay to receive power to your property. The cost is a fixed daily amount which is based on your current energy plan and the number of days between the meter readings.

Usage charge

This refers to how much electricity you used at the property during the supply period. Usage is measured in Kilowatt hours (kWh). The amount you pay per 'unit of electricity' or the unit price is based on your energy plan.

What else contributes to the cost of your bill?

The supply and usage charges are what you see on your bill, but they also cover various network, retail, wholesale and green costs that are associated with providing electricity to your home:

Wholesaler costs

These are the costs that go towards the wholesaler who generates the electricity.

Network costs

These costs include what we receive to help effectively build, maintain and operate the network and safely distribute electricity to your home or business.

Retailer fees

Retail costs are those incurred by the  retailer for carrying out their services and managing customer accounts.

Green schemes

These costs are associated with programs that support the development of renewable energy.

How do I pay my bill?

For most bills, your payment options will be located at the bottom of your bill. Payment options usually include direct debit, credit or debit card payments, BPAY, Centrepay, by mail or at your local post office.