Is your electricity bill normal?
Enter a few details from your bill and compare your electricity use with similar households in your area.
What counts as normal?
The Australian Energy Regulator commissioned the last national benchmarks for how much electricity households use, broken down by household size, area and season. They were published in 2020. The benchmark program ended in 2023, so we show that date wherever we use them rather than presenting them as current usage data.
Bill Checker compares you against the right one. A four-person house in Brisbane in February and a four-person house in Melbourne in July are not the same comparison, and treating them as one is how most "average bill" figures end up meaningless.
Being above the benchmark does not mean something is wrong. Electric hot water, a pool, ducted heating, a large house or working from home all move the number legitimately. It means it is worth knowing why.
Average electricity use in Australian cities
Kilowatt hours per day, averaged across the whole year.
| City | 1 person | 2 people | 3 people | 4 people | 5+ people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide | 8.0 | 13.8 | 16.7 | 19.3 | 23.9 |
| Sydney | 8.5 | 14.3 | 17.4 | 20.0 | 24.7 |
| Melbourne | 8.1 | 13.3 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 20.1 |
| Brisbane | 9.3 | 14.0 | 16.9 | 21.0 | 24.1 |
Benchmark source published: December 2020 How we work this out