Electricity Bill Relief for households

What it is

The Commonwealth Government and state and territory governments are working together to provide targeted electricity bill relief to eligible households and small businesses.

How much you can get

How much you get depends on where you live.

If you live in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia or Tasmania, you can get $500 per eligible household.

If you live in Victoria, you can get $250 per eligible household, plus a one off $250 direct payment through Victoria’s 2023 Power Saving Bonus Payment.

If you live in the Northern Territory or Western Australia, you can get $350 per eligible household.

If you live in the Australian Capital Territory, you can get $175 per eligible household. Your bills will also be lower owing to the ACT’s Large-scale Feed-in Tariff Scheme which will lower the average bill by $152.

 

Who can get it

You can get bill relief if you are the primary electricity account holder, or another named account holder on your electricity account.

You must also hold an eligible concession card or receive an eligible government payment in the state or territory you live in.

Your household can only get one bill relief credit, even if there is more than one eligible person living there. You can only get bill relief for your principal place of residence (not any other properties you own or manage).

If you don’t already get help

Check if you are eligible for any existing state and territory concession schemes and apply for them if you are eligible.

Check if you are the primary account holder or a named account holder on your electricity account. If you aren’t named on the bill and you pay for electricity, contact your electricity provider to change this to get the bill relief (this is not necessary in Western Australia).

If you already get help

You will also be eligible for the bill relief if your household already gets or is eligible for an existing electricity concession scheme in your state or territory.

If you live in an embedded (or on-supplied) network

If you don’t get an electricity bill straight from an energy provider because you live in an embedded network (or on-supplied), you may still be eligible. You live in an embedded network if you get your electricity from your strata or landlord in a caravan park, apartment building or retirement home or village.

If you live in a household that receives energy bills, but you don’t have a direct relationship with the retailer (e.g. you are a tenant or subletter in a sharehouse) you don’t necessarily live in an embedded network.

How to get it

You don’t need to do anything right now.

In most cases your electricity provider will automatically apply the bill relief to your electricity account and this will reduce the amount you owe on your next bill. How and when this happens depends on where you live. Each state and territory may do things a little differently.

If you already get or are eligible for help from your state or territory

If your household already gets or is eligible for an existing electricity bill concession scheme in your state or territory you don’t need to do anything. You will start getting the bill relief from 1 July 2023.

If you think you are eligible for an existing electricity bill concession scheme in your state or territory but aren’t receiving it, contact your electricity retailer to apply. You will then also receive the new bill relief from 1 July 2023. For most jurisdictions you will need to be an account holder or named on the household electricity bill to be eligible.

More information about existing schemes and eligibilities can be found [here – hyperlink].

If you live in an embedded network

If you live in an embedded network and your household is eligible for the bill relief, you will not automatically receive bill relief but will be able to access a direct payment through your state or territory government. More information about what to do will be provided by your state or territory government before July 2023.

If you have an eligible card or get a payment from Services Australia

If you have an eligible card or get a payment from Services Australia and you aren’t already eligible for help from your state or territory, you don’t need to do anything. Services Australia will contact you in September 2023, to tell you what to do. More information about existing schemes and eligibilities can be found [here – hyperlink].

If you have an eligible card from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA)

If you have an eligible card from the DVA and are not eligible for current state or territory electricity relief payments, you don’t need to do anything yet. The DVA will contact you from July 2023 to tell you what you need to do.

When you will get it

When you will get bill relief depends on the state or territory you live in.

Depending on which state or territory you live in, you might get your bill relief on a single bill or spread across multiple bills.

If you live in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory, you will get bill relief quarterly in the 2023-24 financial year.

If you live in Western Australia, you will get bill relief on your electricity bills in July and December 2023.

If you live in Tasmania, you will get bill relief on your electricity bills in the September and June quarters of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years.

If you live in Victoria, you will get bill relief in instalments in 2023-24.

You can read more about how the government has set up the Energy Bill Relief Fund.

 

 

 

Eligible cards and payments for the Energy Bill Relief Fund for individuals

To get the Energy Bill Relief Fund you must get one of these eligible cards or payments in the state or territory you live in.

Australian Capital Territory

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in ACT are:

  • ACT Services Access Card
  • Low Income Health Care Card
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • PoW, TPI, and War Widow DVA Gold Cards.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing ACT concession scheme.

 

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in ACT are:

  • all other DVA Gold Cards
  • Carer Allowance
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Family Tax Benefit
  • Health Care Card.

If you hold or receive one of these cards or payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or by Services Australia in September to tell you what you need to do.

 

New South Wales

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in NSW are:

  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Family Tax Benefit
  • Health Care Card
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • Recipients of Life Support Rebate and Energy Accounts Payments Assistance
  • TPI, EDA, War Widow and War Widower Pension Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Gold Cards.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing NSW Electricity concession scheme.

 

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in NSW are:

  • all other DVA Gold Cards
  • Carer Allowance
  • Low Income Health Care Card.

If you hold or receive one of these cards or payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September to tell you what you need to do.

Northern Territory

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in NT are:

  • DVA Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • DVA Orange Card
  • DVA Pensioner Concession Card
  • Parenting Payment single
  • Pensioner Concession Card if you get Age Pension or Disability Support Pension
  • TPI, and War Widow DVA Gold Cards.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing NT Electricity concession scheme.

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief  in NT are:

  • all other DVA Gold Cards
  • Carer Allowance
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Family Tax Benefit
  • Health Care Card
  • Indigenous Essential Services
  • Low Income Health Care Card.

If you hold or receive one of these cards or payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September to tell you what you need to do.

 

Victoria

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in Victoria are:

  • DVA Gold Cards
  • Health Care Card
  • Low Income Health Care Card
  • Pensioner Concession Card.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing Victorian Electricity concession scheme.

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in Victoria are:

  • Carer Allowance
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Family Tax Benefit.

If you hold or receive one of these cards or payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September July to tell you what you need to do.

Queensland

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in Queensland are:

  • Health Care Card
  • Immicard
  • Low Income Health Care Card
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • QLD Seniors Card
  • TPI and War Widow DVA Gold Cards.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing QLD Electricity concession scheme.

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in Queensland are:

  • all other DVA Gold Cards
  • Carer Allowance
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Family Tax Benefit.

If you hold or receive one of these cards or payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September July to tell you what you need to do.

 

Western Australia

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in Western Australia are:

  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Health Care Cards (including Low Income Health Care Card)
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • DVA Gold Cards.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing WA Electricity concession scheme. You can find out more here: [link to WA scheme]

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in Western Australia are:

  • Carer Allowance
  • Family Tax Benefit.

If you receive one of these payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September by to tell you what you need to do.

South Australia

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in South Australia are:

  • ABSTUDY
  • Austudy
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • Community Development Program
  • Farm Household Allowance
  • Asylum seekers
  • JobSeeker Payment
  • Low Income Health Care Card
  • New Enterprise Incentive Scheme
  • Parenting Payment
  • Partner Allowance
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • Special Benefit
  • TPI, EDA, War Widow and 80 OIP DVA Gold Cards
  • War widow pension under legislation of the United Kingdom or New Zealand
  • Widow Allowance
  • Youth Allowance.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing SA Electricity concession scheme. You can find out more here: [link to SA scheme]

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in South Australia are:

  • all other DVA Gold Cards
  • Carer Allowance
  • Family Tax Benefit
  • Health Care Cards.

If you receive one of these payments you will be contacted by Services Australia or DVA in July to tell you what you need to do.

 

Tasmania

Eligible cards and payments for existing rebates in Tasmania are:

  • Health Care Cards
  • ImmiCard
  • Pensioner Concession Card.

If you hold one of these cards you are eligible for the existing Tas Electricity concession scheme. You can find out more here: [link to Tas scheme]

Newly eligible cards and payments for bill relief in Tasmania are:

  • Carer Allowance
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
  • DVA Gold Cards
  • Family Tax Benefit
  • Low Income Health Care Card.

If you receive one of these payments you will be contacted by DVA in July or Services Australia in September July to tell you what you need to do.

 

 

Energy Bill Relief Fund for small businesses

Your business can get bill relief if you meet the electricity small business criteria in your state or territory.

You don’t need to do anything. If you are eligible, you will receive bill relief on your electricity bills from 1 July 2023.

Who can get it

To be eligible, your business must be on a separately-metered business tariff with your electricity retailer, and your business’s annual electricity consumption must be less than the threshold for your state or territory. The energy consumption threshold is:

  • 40MWh in Victoria
  • 50MWh in Western Australia
  • 100MWh in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland
  • 150MWh in Tasmania
  • 160MWh in the Northern territory and South Australia

Who can’t get it

  • If you run your small business using electricity from your home, you are not eligible for the small business bill relief.
  • If your annual electricity consumption is above the small customer business threshold, you are not eligible for the small business bill relief.
  • For the ACT and Victoria, small businesses in embedded networks will not be eligible for the small business bill relief.

How much you can get

If you are eligible, how much you can get and how you get it depends on the state or territory your small business is in.

You will get a $325 of bill relief if your eligible small business is in Victoria.

You will get a $650 of bill relief if your eligible small business is in these states and territories:

  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Western Australia.

If your small business is in the Australian Capital Territory, your business will benefit from lower electricity charges flowing from the ACT’s Large-scale Feed-in Tariff Scheme. If your business has average electricity use it will receive a reduction in electricity charges of $624. Your business will also receive a $325 rebate.

You can read more about how the government has set up the Energy Bill Relief Fund for small businesses.