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Comparing plans with the two government tools
The two government tools for comparing energy plans start from different places. Energy Made Easy, run by the Australian Energy Regulator for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, starts from where you live and the kind of plan you want. Victorian Energy Compare can start from your own smart meter data. Victoria also writes its own contract rules, which hold a discount to the whole contract and limit price rises to once a year.
This guide sets the two tools side by side, then puts Victoria’s contract rules beside the national ones, and ends with the words on a plan worth reading slowly.
General information, not financial advice. Neither tool covers Western Australia or the Northern Territory: for those, Energy Made Easy points to the Economic Regulation Authority (Western Australia) and Power and Water (Northern Territory).
The two tools, side by side
They do the same job for different states, and they describe their limits differently. The rows below come from each tool’s own pages and terms.
| Question | Energy Made Easy | Victorian Energy Compare |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | The Australian Energy Regulator. | The Victorian Government; its terms name the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). |
| Where it applies | Electricity and gas, for households and small businesses in the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. | Victoria, for electricity and gas. |
| What it asks for | Your location and the kind of plan you want. Adding your NMI gives the most accurate comparison. | Your NMI, if you have lived there for at least 12 months, so it can retrieve your smart meter data from the Australian Energy Market Operator, using your last 16 months of available data; or answers to a questionnaire instead. |
| What it says about coverage | Retailers are required by law to give it data for every plan they make available to most customers. Plans restricted to some people, such as staff of one employer, are not on it. | Its terms say not all offers available to you may be displayed, and suggest checking with retailers for offers it does not show. |
The AER adds a caution about commercial switching services: some have preferred retailers, may be paid commission by retailers, and do not always compare every offer.
Victoria’s own contract rules
The ESC sets out rules that apply once a Victorian has signed with a retailer:
- a discount, credit or rebate on a new offer must be provided for the whole length of the contract;
- retailers can only increase prices once a year;
- retailers must give at least five days’ notice of a price or benefit change that affects your bill, with a message saying whether a cheaper plan is available.
The first two are where Victoria parts from the national rules. In the AER’s states, a market plan’s prices can change at any time, even just after you sign, and a discount can be tied to a benefit period, such as the first 12 months of the contract.
Victorian bills must also show ‘best offer’ information at least once every four months, based on how much energy you used over the past year.
From 1 July 2026, the Victorian Government says, retailers must move customers they are aware of on offers more than four years old to a lower rate, and have until 30 June 2027 to do it; customers can also ask their retailer to be moved.
Two meters can mean two plans
Energy Made Easy compares electricity and gas plans, and some households keep one retailer for both. The AER suggests checking whether you would get one bill if both fuels came from the same retailer. The two plans are still read differently.
Electricity
- A flat rate charges the same per kilowatt hour at any time of day.
- Time-of-use tariffs and demand charges apply only to customers with a smart meter, so the plans open to you depend on the meter you have.
- Peak, off-peak and shoulder times can differ between retailers, so the AER suggests keeping that in mind if you change retailers.
Gas
- Usage is charged per megajoule.
- There is one type of gas meter, read by hand, usually every 3 months; the time-of-use tariffs and demand charges the AER describes are electricity tariffs.
- The connection is identified by its MIRN, the number your distributor assigns, rather than an NMI.
The words that change what a plan means
Each plan carries a short document. In the AER’s states it is the Basic Plan Information Document, which holds the plan’s key information, with a Detailed Plan Information Document behind it. In Victoria every plan must have an energy fact sheet estimating its cost for a small, medium and large household, set out the same way for every plan; you can find it on the retailer’s website or ask for it. These terms are the ones to read slowly.
Market plan or standard plan
Under a market retail plan, prices are set by the retailer. In the AER’s states, a standard retail plan, also called a standing offer, has prices that can’t change more than once every 6 months and are often set by government depending on where you live.
“With energy plans, ‘fixed term’ means the plan has a particular time period. It does not mean ‘fixed price’. Prices can go up!”
Energy Made Easy, Types of energy plansConditional or guaranteed discount
A conditional discount depends on you doing what you agreed, such as paying on time. A guaranteed discount, also called unconditional, applies automatically when you sign up.
Exit fee
Also called a cancellation or termination fee: what you might pay to leave a contract early. The AER suggests checking for one before you move off a fixed-term contract.
Notice of a price change
On a market plan in the AER’s states, the retailer must tell you at least 5 business days before a price changes, or at least 10 business days in Queensland, saying when it changes and what the tariffs are before and after.