The Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Retail Tariff Tracker is an ongoing project for Energy Consumers Australia. It collects data every April and October on electricity and gas price offers for small businesses, with reports on trends published in June and December.
Key findings
On average, annual electricity bills increased nationally by 8% in the last year, for small businesses consuming 20,000 kWh per annum. Please note, this data does not include small business energy rebates.
Small business electricity bills increased in most jurisdictions, with the greatest increase in Queensland (24%), and South Australia (23%). However, there were decreases in the Australian Capital Territory (-13%), and Tasmania (-1%).
Businesses in South Australia continue to have the highest annual electricity bills ($10,310), while businesses in Tasmania have the lowest ($5,900).
On average, annual gas bills increased nationally by 7% in the last year, for businesses consuming 100 GJ per annum.
Gas bills increased in all jurisdictions. The greatest increases were in South Australia (11%), the ACT (12%), and Queensland (9%).
Businesses in Tasmania continue to have the highest annual gas bills ($5,820), while those in Western Australia have the lowest ($3,370).
State by state fact sheets:
You can access a summary of our study nationally or state by state in the interactive map above.
Energy Bill Data Packs
The following workbooks/data packs allow you to enter consumption levels and analyse bills for electricity and gas market offers available to small business customers.
Calculate historical electricity bills by state
Calculate historical gas bills by state
Background
Increases in energy costs can adversely impact all businesses, large or small, undermining their long-term profitability and contribution to the Australian economy. Australian businesses and consumers are facing increasing pressure as a result of price increases over the past ten years.
Through the ongoing SME retail tariff tracking project, Energy Consumers Australia continues to build the evidence base of the costs facing small businesses, particularly those that are energy intensive and are unable to pass on those costs. As in other markets, for competition to be effective, transparency of information is an important tool to enable consumers to participate with confidence.
The analysis presented in this SME Retail Tariff Tracker project update report is based on available retail offers from April 2016 to October 2023. In order to make a national comparison of electricity and gas bills we have chosen a standard annual consumption level of 20,000 kilowatt hours for electricity and 100 gigajoules for gas, with the same rate charged for usage all day.