It’s been almost a year since bill relief ended, and if your power bill has felt heavier lately, you’re not imagining it.
Our latest research, using ABS Energy Account data, shows government rebates paid 22.4% of household electricity bills in 2024-25, more than double the share a year earlier, at a cost of $5.5 billion. Universal rebates ended in December 2025, and the average home now pays an estimated $580 a year more than in 2024-25.
One year of federal and state energy bill relief rebates came to about three-quarters of the estimated $7.2 billion four-year cost of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program.
Rebates more than doubled in a year
Rebates rose from $2.5 billion in 2023-24 to $5.5 billion in 2024-25. The federal Energy Bill Relief Fund paid households $300 each, and Queensland and Western Australia added their own credits. Across the four years to 2024-25, rebates totalled $8.8 billion.
Universal one-off rebates per household in 2024-25:
- Queensland: $1,300
- Western Australia: $700
- All other states and territories: $300
Households used more power but paid less
Household electricity use reached 267 petajoules in 2024-25, the highest since the ABS series began in 2010-11. Gas use per home fell 24% over the five years to 2024-25.
Households used 3.9% more electricity in 2024-25 but paid 10.4% less out of pocket. Rebates averaged $501 per household, up from $235 in 2023-24.
In 2024-25 households paid $18.9 billion themselves, slightly less than in 2019-20. Over the same five years, the full cost of household electricity rose 28% to $24.4 billion, with rebates covering the difference.
“Homes are using more electricity than at any point in the past 15 years as more of them move off gas, and the rebates hid what that shift costs,” said Dave Green, Co-Founder of Green.com.au. “For a year, households saw a bill that was more than a fifth below the full cost of the power they used. That discount has now gone.”
Almost a year on, bills are an estimated $580 higher
Electricity prices rose 12.8% in the year to September 2026, which the ABS attributed largely to the end of Commonwealth rebates. Our analysis estimates the average home now pays about $2,315 a year for electricity, against $1,731 in 2024-25, assuming the same use.
“A rebate lowers one year’s bills. Households now need to think about how to lower their bills permanently,” said Dave. “The 12.8% rise in power prices over the past year shows how quickly rebate support unwinds.”
What does it mean for Aussie households?
Rebates come and go. What lowers a bill for good is needing less power from the grid in the first place.
That’s the job solar and a home battery do. Rather than hoping the next rebate turns up, you make and store your own power, and the savings keep coming every year, not just one. There’s still one rebate worth grabbing, too: the federal Cheaper Home Batteries rebate takes a chunk off a battery that keeps cutting your bills long after the rebate’s been spent.
