Understand the code on your electricity bill.

This is a guide so you can see what your charges are — and how solar and a battery can help. Find the code on your bill, match it to a group below, and open it for the detail.

Ausgrid is your distributor— the company that owns the power lines in your area. You don’t pay them directly: your retailer (AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia, Alinta) sends the bill and passes these charges on.

Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter region.

Four kinds of charge. That’s the whole game.

Every tariff below is just a different mix of these. Learn the four once and every code on your bill makes sense.

Daily access

A fixed fee per day, whatever you use. Nothing you do changes it.

Energy

What you pay per unit (kWh). Most tariffs charge more at peak times and less overnight and through the middle of the day.

Demand

Based on your single highest half-hour of use. Most networks measure it each billing month; Ausgrid’s capacity tariffs use your highest half-hour in the rolling last 12 months, so one spike can set a year of charges. It’s the charge a battery is best at cutting. Demand charges, explained

Export

Money for solar you send back to the grid — or a charge if you export at the wrong time of day.

Units, once: kWh is how much you used in total; kW is how hard you pulled at one instant. Demand charges watch the second one. kVAis apparent power — your real kW plus reactive power that does no useful work but still loads the network. Bigger tariffs bill on kVA, so poor power factor raises the bill even at the same kW.

Where a $5,000 quarter actually goes.

One bar, one typical bill. The network slices below come straight from the published 2026–27 rates on Ausgrid’s standard small-business tariff (EA256). Everything else is your retailer.

  • $553Network energy 11%
  • $1,216Network demand charge 24%
  • $220Network daily access 4%
  • $2,556Retailer energy, green schemes & market fees 51%
  • $455GST 9%

Assumes about 18,000 kWh over the quarter (roughly $5,000 all-in) on EA256, with a 30 kW highest half-hour across the quarter. Illustrative, not a quote — your split moves with your retailer, your usage shape and the exact tariff assignment.

The tariffs, in groups.

Most of the codes are variations on a handful of themes. Find your group, then open your code for the detail.

Prices are the published 2026–27 network rates for the group’s codes, rounded — exact figures and GST treatment are on each code’s page.

Small business — under 100 MWh a year

Most Ausgrid small businesses.

Your code
EA225EA251EA256EA050

On the bill

  • Daily access$2.19–$2.42 a day
  • Time-of-use energy (peak 3–9pm working weekdays)3.1c–39.8c per kWh
  • kW demand charge (EA256)44.5c per kW per day

Solar & battery

Solar cuts daytime units. On EA256, flattening your peak cuts the demand charge — that’s where a battery earns its keep.

Network-charge split · EA256typical ~18,000 kWh a quarter · 30 kW peak
Demand 61%Energy 28%Access 11%

Medium — 100–160 MWh a year

Sites growing past 100 MWh a year.

Your code
EA302

On the bill

  • Daily access$6.53 a day
  • Time-of-use energy2.0c–8.8c per kWh
  • kW capacity charge (set by your highest half-hour in the last 12 months)48.3c per kW per day

Solar & battery

The capacity charge looks back 12 months, so one big day can set it for a year. A battery that flattens spikes protects you twice over.

Network-charge split · EA302typical ~30,000 kWh a quarter · 60 kW peak
Demand 54%Energy 33%Access 12%

Large — over 160 MWh a year

Large and very large low-voltage sites. EA314/EA315 are the embedded-network parent versions.

Your code
EA305EA314EA310EA315

On the bill

  • Daily access$25.47–$51.18 a day
  • Time-of-use energy1.7c–8.2c per kWh
  • kVA capacity charge57.8c–70.8c per kVA per day

Solar & battery

Solar trims energy. A battery helps the kVA charge only partly — kVA includes reactive power, so fix power factor first.

Network-charge split · EA305typical ~60,000 kWh a quarter · 150 kW peak
Demand 60%Energy 23%Access 18%

High voltage & sub-transmission

Sites supplied and metered at high or sub-transmission voltage.

Your code
EA365EA370EA390

On the bill

  • Daily access$71.90–$79.79 a day
  • Time-of-use energy2.0c–4.0c per kWh
  • kVA capacity charge9.7c–41.2c per kVA per day

Solar & battery

Same maths as the large-business family, at higher voltages. Get an engineering review before choosing equipment.

Network-charge split · EA370typical ~150,000 kWh a quarter · 400 kW peak
Demand 52%Energy 18%Access 30%

Solar export

Small sites exporting solar back to the grid.

Your code
EA029

On the bill

  • Evening export reward (4–9pm)3.9c earned per kWh exported
  • Daytime export charge above your basic limit1.2c charged per kWh exported

Solar & battery

Ausgrid pays for evening export and charges for daytime export above the limit. A battery can move your export into the paid window.