About the 'Talking Tariffs' project

Essential Energy has committed to looking at different tariffs to make the cost of electricity fairer for everyone. We will be trialling different tariffs over the next few years to work out if there are any new options that deliver better outcomes and result in fairer prices for customers.

A tariff represents the price a customer is charged for using our network to obtain the electricity they use. As part of this project, we will be looking at the structure of a tariff, not just the price. You see, some of our customers use less electricity than others, but the way in which they use it means that it costs us a lot more to deliver it.

Our existing tariffs, which are primarily based on the amount of electricity that customers use, regardless of when it is used, means that these customers are paying less than their fair share of our costs with other customers paying more than their fair share to make up the shortfall.

Adjusting our tariffs will allow Essential Energy to create price signals for our customers. This would then reward customers who choose to adjust their usage in response to these signals with lower charges, whilst also helping us reduce our potential network costs.

Aligning the prices our customers pay with the relative costs they impose on the network will improve fairness for everyone.

Our tariff trials project aims to design and test at least two innovative tariff options that could be applied to our residential and small business customers. The tariff trials will allow us to test our customer’s responsiveness to different tariff options and assess the impact on their bills, with the ultimate aim of making the cost of electricity fairer for everyone.

Our tariff trials project will consist of three phases. We are currently in Phase 1: Trial Design.

AIM: To design tariffs to trial that are supported by stakeholders and customers
AIM: To test the tariffs and see whether they:
- change how customers use electricity;
- help solve our network problems;
- improve fairness between customers; and
- can be implemented on a broad-scale in a
cost-effective manner.
AIM: To present data and learnings to gain stakeholder support for any new tariff structures for Essential Energy’s next regulatory period, which runs from 1 July 2024 through to 30 June 2029.

Engagement program outline

The program is two rounds of engagement with both residential and small business customers as well as customer advocacy groups, retailers and other stakeholders. Online and telephone surveys with residential customers and business customers will also be undertaken.

We want our customers and stakeholders to tell us what sort of tariffs will improve fairness between our customers. These preferences will then shape the tariffs that we will trial.

The final tariff designs will be shared with participants from the engagement process and published on this site.


Essential Energy has committed to looking at different tariffs to make the cost of electricity fairer for everyone. We will be trialling different tariffs over the next few years to work out if there are any new options that deliver better outcomes and result in fairer prices for customers.

A tariff represents the price a customer is charged for using our network to obtain the electricity they use. As part of this project, we will be looking at the structure of a tariff, not just the price. You see, some of our customers use less electricity than others, but the way in which they use it means that it costs us a lot more to deliver it.

Our existing tariffs, which are primarily based on the amount of electricity that customers use, regardless of when it is used, means that these customers are paying less than their fair share of our costs with other customers paying more than their fair share to make up the shortfall.

Adjusting our tariffs will allow Essential Energy to create price signals for our customers. This would then reward customers who choose to adjust their usage in response to these signals with lower charges, whilst also helping us reduce our potential network costs.

Aligning the prices our customers pay with the relative costs they impose on the network will improve fairness for everyone.

Our tariff trials project aims to design and test at least two innovative tariff options that could be applied to our residential and small business customers. The tariff trials will allow us to test our customer’s responsiveness to different tariff options and assess the impact on their bills, with the ultimate aim of making the cost of electricity fairer for everyone.

Our tariff trials project will consist of three phases. We are currently in Phase 1: Trial Design.

AIM: To design tariffs to trial that are supported by stakeholders and customers
AIM: To test the tariffs and see whether they:
- change how customers use electricity;
- help solve our network problems;
- improve fairness between customers; and
- can be implemented on a broad-scale in a
cost-effective manner.
AIM: To present data and learnings to gain stakeholder support for any new tariff structures for Essential Energy’s next regulatory period, which runs from 1 July 2024 through to 30 June 2029.

Engagement program outline

The program is two rounds of engagement with both residential and small business customers as well as customer advocacy groups, retailers and other stakeholders. Online and telephone surveys with residential customers and business customers will also be undertaken.

We want our customers and stakeholders to tell us what sort of tariffs will improve fairness between our customers. These preferences will then shape the tariffs that we will trial.

The final tariff designs will be shared with participants from the engagement process and published on this site.


Page last updated: 08 Oct 2020, 02:00 PM