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 prices for small businesses, with reports on trends published in June and December.
Key findings
Average annual electricity bills increased nationally by 8% ($540) for businesses consuming 20,000 kWh per annum, between October 2022 and October 2023. The SME Tariff Tracker data does not include small business energy rebates. Section 2.6 of the report considers the impact the Energy Relief Fund would have on the case studies included in the report.
Electricity bills increased in most jurisdictions, with the greatest increase in South Australia (23%). However, there were decreases in the Australian Capital Territory (-9%), and Tasmania (-1%).
Businesses in South Australia continue to have the highest annual electricity bills ($10,427), while businesses in Tasmania now have the lowest ($5,902).
Average annual gas bills increased nationally by 12% ($460) for businesses consuming 100 GJ per annum, between October 2022 and October 2023.
Gas bills increased in all jurisdictions. The greatest increase was in Victoria (31%), while the lowest increase was in New South Wales (5%).
Businesses in Tasmania continue to have the highest annual gas bills ($5,670), while Western Australia now have the lowest ($3,370).
State by state fact sheets:
This year we also obtained and analysed energy bills from five small businesses in various jurisdictions. These case studies, as well as the national fact sheet, can be found below.
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 the price increases over the past ten years.
Through ongoing work on the 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 the transparency of information is an important tool so that consumers can 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.