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Setting charges

Learn what goes into your electricity bills and how they are determined.

Your electricity bill includes charges passed on for the cost of building, operating and maintaining the network. Bills also include the cost of providing smart meter services.

These charges account for around 36% of a typical bill. This means the majority of your bill is for usage costs.

Every 5 years, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) reviews and approves what charges we pass onto customers, including:

  • The expenditure needed to provide efficient and reliable electricity. This is the Electricity Distribution Price Review (EDPR).
  • The tariffs charged to business and household customers. This is the Tariff Structure Statement or TSS.

Customer engagement played a key part in our 2022-2026 EDPR.

We put customers at the centre of the process, by developing an industry leading Customer Forum. Read the final Customer Forum Final Engagement Report (PDF, 1,029 KB).

A similar regulatory process applies to gas. This is called the Gas Access Arrangement Review (GAAR).

Bill breakdown diagram - details below

Victorian electricity network pricing for 2022 to 2026 (Tariff Structure Statement)

For the past few years, Victoria's electricity distributors have worked together on pricing and engaged customer by way of stakeholder forums.

This teamwork helped shape our most recent Tariff Structure Statement (TSS). The TSS includes the basis of our customer charges from 1 July 2021 until 30 June 2026. These charges have been approved by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

Read the Tariff Structure Statement 2022-26.


Previous regulatory period (2016-2020)

The previous regulatory period for electricity distribution ran from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020. However, the period was extended for six months. This helped with the transition of new regulatory periods to financial years.

The approved revenue for the regulatory period is explained in the AER's final decision. Visit the AER site to read the AusNet distribution determination 2016-20 (PDF, 1.2MB).

The AusNet - Determination 2021-26, details information on the extension of the 2016-2020 regulatory period.

The TSS and the Annual Tariff Report for the 6-month extension to the 2016-2020 regulatory period can be read on the AER site via the below links: