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. This report covers a period of significant wholesale price volatility, and it should be noted that this has implications for the analysis presented.
Key findings
Nationally, annual electricity bills for SMEs consuming 20,000 kWh per annum increased by 18% ($1,050) between April 2022 and April 2023.
Electricity bills increased in all jurisdictions. Businesses in NSW had the greatest annual increase in bills by 32% ($1,855) while Western Australia had the lowest at 2% ($165). Notably, in the past six months, some jurisdictions have seen decreases in their electricity bills. For example, NSW decreased by 5%.
Businesses in South Australia have the highest annual electricity bills ($8,490) while Victorian businesses have the lowest ($5,840).
Average annual gas bills for SMEs consuming 100 GJ of gas per annum increased by 22% ($710) between April 2022 and April 2023.
Gas bills for small businesses increased in all jurisdictions. The greatest increases have been in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania where the average bills have increased by $970, $960 and $820 respectively.
Tasmanian businesses continue to have the greatest annual gas bills ($5,670) and Western Australian businesses have the lowest ($3,150).
State by state fact sheets:
You can access a summary of our study nationally or state by state below. This year we also obtained and analysed energy bills from five small businesses in various jurisdictions.
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 April 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.