Choosing an Electricity Retailer in Tasmania: Your Options and How to Compare Costs

Yes. Tasmania has had full retail competition for households for years, and the Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator reports that as at 30 June 2025, thirteen electricity retailers were operating in the mainland Tasmanian market. In practice, though, most of us are still with one: in 2024-25 Aurora Energy serviced 92.3 per cent of residential customers and 91.6 per cent of business customers.

That share is slowly shifting. The Regulator notes Aurora Energy’s residential market share fell from 93.3 per cent in 2023-24 to 92.3 per cent in 2024-25, and that 1st Energy was Aurora Energy’s largest Tasmanian competitor with 6.5 per cent of the residential customer market.

So the honest picture is this: you do have options, but the Tasmanian market is small and the differences between offers are usually about which tariff you’re on and how you use power — not a dramatic headline discount.

what is a tariff in electricity?

A tariff is the price structure on your bill. It has two parts: a usage charge in cents per kilowatt-hour (c/kWh) for the electricity you actually use, and a supply charge (also called a daily or fixed charge) in cents per day that you pay just for being connected — even in a month you’re away.

Two offers can look similar on usage and still land differently once the daily charge is counted. That’s why comparing only the c/kWh rate is the most common mistake Tasmanians make.

what is tariff 93?

Tariff 93 is Tasmania’s residential time-of-use tariff, and it’s now the default. Since 1 July 2024, every new or upgraded residential connection is assigned to it. It applies to the whole home, with a higher peak rate at set times and a lower off-peak rate everything else.

Peak on Tariff 93 is weekdays 7-10am and 4-9pm (8-11am and 5-10pm during daylight saving). Everything else is off-peak — including all weekend.

The older pair, Tariff 31 (general light and power, flat rate) and Tariff 41 (a separately metered lower flat rate for hard-wired heating and hot water), closed to new installations on 30 June 2024. Existing homes may stay on them, and neither is time-of-use.

What residential tariffs can I actually be on, and what do they cost?

Below are Aurora Energy’s 2026-27 standing-offer prices from 1 July 2026. Aurora states all prices include GST. Market offers and other retailers can differ, so always check your own bill.

Tariff	What it is	Usage (c/kWh)	Supply charge	Who can be on it
93	Residential time-of-use, whole home	Peak 36.19 / off-peak 17.02	~172 c/day	Default for new or upgraded connections
32	”Residential Single Rate” — new flat rate	24.75	~182 c/day	Homes with an interval-capable (smart) meter; no restrictions on what it’s used for
31	Legacy flat rate	27.95	~168 c/day	Existing customers only (closed 30 June 2024)
41	Legacy separately metered heating/hot water	21.12	~18 c/day	Existing customers only (closed 30 June 2024)

Tariff 32 is new from 1 July 2026 — the Regulator confirms Aurora Energy is introducing new regulated flat rate tariffs for residential and small business customers from that date. It’s a genuinely useful option if your household can’t easily shift usage out of the morning and evening peaks.

One important catch: Aurora states that once a home switches to a different tariff it cannot return to Tariffs 31 and 41. That door only opens one way, so don’t move off a legacy tariff on a hunch.

Also worth knowing: from 1 July 2026, the Regulator advises Aurora Energy’s standing offer prices increase by an average of 4.23 per cent for residential and small business customers on mainland Tasmania, including Bruny Island — and that depending on tariff and electricity use, some customers may see higher bills and others lower bills compared with the average increase. “Average” is not “yours.”

How do I compare two offers properly?

Use your own bill, not a brochure. The steps:

Find your annual kWh (add up four quarterly bills) and note which tariff you’re on.
Work out your shape. Is your usage spread evenly, or concentrated in weekday mornings and evenings? Time-of-use only rewards you if you can shift load.
Multiply usage by the rate, then add 365 days of supply charge. Do this for each offer.
Check what the discount is off. A percentage off usage only is very different from a percentage off the whole bill.
Ask about the exit terms — contract length, any fees, and whether an introductory rate expires.
Confirm your meter. Flat Tariff 32 requires an interval-capable (smart) meter.

Should I pick the retailer with the best solar feed-in tariff?

Probably not as your first filter. The Regulator sets a minimum feed-in tariff each financial year that retailers must pay eligible customers for excess electricity exported to the grid, and from 1 July 2026 that regulated rate is 9.276 c/kWh — up from 8.782c in 2025-26, but still modest.

The key insight for solar owners: a kWh you use at home is worth far more than one you export, and how much more depends entirely on your tariff.

On Tariff 93, solar used at midday saves the off-peak rate of 17.02 c/kWh — roughly twice the feed-in tariff. Solar or battery energy used in the evening peak saves 36.19 c/kWh, roughly four times.
On legacy Tariff 31, every solar kWh used at home saves 27.95 c/kWh, roughly three times the feed-in tariff.

So a slightly higher feed-in rate matters much less than being on a tariff and plan that suits a solar home. Self-consumption is where the value sits.

What should a solar, battery or EV owner ask about?

Ask specifically about Tariff 97 — the new opt-in residential consumer-energy-resources tariff for homes with solar, a battery or an EV. It’s the only Tasmanian tariff with a super off-peak rate, from midnight to 4am every day, weekends included, which is genuinely valuable if you can charge a battery or an EV overnight.

Its trade-offs: peak runs weekdays 7-10am and 4-10pm — an hour longer in the evening than Tariff 93 — all other times are off-peak, and it carries an excess demand charge above 8.5 kW (TasNetworks says about 97 per cent of homes stay under that threshold). Tariff 97 is not a controlled-load or hot-water tariff; that’s Tariff 41.

Critically, availability of a Tariff 97 retail plan depends on the retailer, and Aurora Energy does not offer one. If Tariff 97 appeals, that alone may be your reason to shop around.

Two other questions worth asking: does the retailer offer any wholesale spot-price exposure? No vendor or retail VPP program operates in Tasmania, but spot-passthrough retailing does exist, and automated battery control can charge when spot prices go negative and avoid peak imports. It suits engaged households comfortable with price variability — not everyone. For a typical Aurora-tariff household without spot exposure, a battery’s value is self-consumption plus outage backup.

The practical takeaway

Do this in order, once: work out your annual kWh and your usage shape from your own bills, then choose the tariff that matches it, then choose the retailer that offers that tariff on good terms. Tariff first, retailer second — that’s the order that actually moves your bill. And before leaving Tariff 31 or 41, do the arithmetic properly, because you can’t go back.

Set a reminder each June. Tariffs and the minimum feed-in rate are reset for the new financial year, and ten minutes with a calculator then is worth more than any switching offer.

This free guide is written by the Tasmanian solar team at Solar Generation Tasmania — locals who are always happy to answer a question about how this all works.

#solargentas #solargen #solargenerationtasmania

Published by Solar Generation Tasmania. General information current as at publication — rebates, tariffs and prices change, so confirm current figures before deciding.