Imported plans come from the Australian Energy Regulator's Product Reference Data, the national dataset of retailer plan information. The Victorian slice of that dataset is held with Victoria's Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), the department behind Victorian Energy Compare. We use each retailer's generally available flat-rate plans with GST-inclusive reference rates, matched to your Victorian postcode. The dataset is a dated snapshot, and the retrieved date is shown next to the import tool.

The import uses reference rates: the standing rates retailers publish to the regulator for a flat-rate tariff, shown here with GST included, the same way Energy Made Easy displays them. Retailer websites often lead with conditional discounts, sign-up credits or time-limited offers that aren't reflected in reference rates, and prices can change after our snapshot date. Treat the comparison as a like-for-like starting point and always confirm the current rate with the retailer before switching. Retailers also sell variants of the same plan family at different rates, for example demand-tariff versions, so quote the plan ID shown under each imported plan to make sure you are looking at the same one.

The Victorian Default Offer (VDO) is a capped electricity price set each year by the Essential Services Commission, Victoria's independent energy regulator. It's the price you pay if you've never chosen a market offer. Market offers are often cheaper than the VDO, so if you've been on the default price for a while, comparing is usually worth it. Your bill must state whether you're on the VDO or a market offer.

A controlled load, sometimes called a dedicated circuit in Victoria, is a separately metered tariff, most commonly for electric hot water, billed at a cheaper rate because it runs in off-peak windows the network controls. This calculator has one controlled load input. If a plan doesn't publish a controlled load rate, your controlled load usage is billed at its General rate instead (the plan is tagged). If you don't have a controlled load, enter zero and it's ignored. Some controlled load tariffs also carry a small daily supply charge of their own, which this calculator's estimate does not include.

Yes. Turn on the solar option, enter your average daily export from a recent bill, and each plan's bill is reduced by its feed-in credit, so solar homes are ranked on net cost. The calculator uses each plan's standard ongoing feed-in rate and doesn't credit headline rates that are capped to the first few kWh a day or only paid at certain times, because a single daily export figure can't value those fairly; those plans are tagged instead. Enter your grid import (what you draw after your panels), not your total solar generation.

Not directly. The calculator models a single anytime usage rate plus an optional controlled load, which keeps every plan comparable like-for-like. If your bill shows peak and off-peak rates, you can enter a blended rate as a rough guide: divide your total usage cost for the period by the total kWh used. Treat the result as an estimate, not an exact comparison.

Look for a section like "your usage" or "average daily usage" on your bill, usually shown in kWh per day. If your bill only shows total kWh for the billing period, divide it by the number of days in the period. Controlled load usage is listed separately on its own meter line.