Business and Government Electricity Pricing

Electricity consumers in Western Australia fall into two general categories, contestable and non-contestable customers. Contestable customers have a choice of electricity retailer, while non-contestable customers do not.

Find out about which electricity retailers you can use in the Economic Regulation Authority’s guide:

• Switched On: Energy Consumers Guide

Non-contestable customers are customers within the South West Interconnected System consuming less than or equal to 50 megawatt hours of electricity a year (an average of 137 units per day). 

These customers are supplied by Synergy and pay electricity prices regulated by the Western Australian Government as determined under electricity by-laws.

Residential households and small businesses usually fall within this category.

• Synergy

Contestable customers are customers within the South West Interconnected System consuming more than 50 megawatt hours of electricity a year (an average of 137 units per day). These include  

• small to medium sized businesses
• large businesses.

All customers outside of the South West Interconnected System are contestable and can choose their retailer. Customers should be aware that, at present, Horizon Power is the only retailer in many regional areas.

These customers can negotiate the rates they pay with their chosen retailer.

Customers consuming between 50 and 160 megawatt hours per year can choose to either pay the relevant capped tariff offered by Synergy or be supplied by Synergy or another retailer at negotiated prices.

• Fact sheet: On-supply of electricity in embedded networks (PDF)

The Uniform Tariff Policy means that small use Synergy and Horizon Power customers are all charged the same rate. This includes customers in remote regions, where the costs to supply electricity are considerably higher.

The extra costs of supplying electricity to these areas are partially funded by the Tariff Equalisation Contribution through  electricity network charges in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). 

Prices apply from 1 July 2019.