Business electricity in Western Australia
Western Australia is not part of the National Electricity Market. Electricity in the south-west of the state is traded through the Wholesale Electricity Market, and the rules, retailers and options are different from the east coast.
That means advice written for NSW or Victoria does not transfer directly. The retailers who can serve your site depend on where it is and who operates the network there.
- Wholesale market
- Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) — separate from the NEM
- Network operators
- Western Power, Horizon Power
Western Power and Horizon Power
Western Power operates the network across the state's south-west, including Perth — the area known as the South West Interconnected System. Horizon Power supplies regional and remote areas outside that grid.
If your site is in the south-west, you have some choice of retailer. If it is in a Horizon Power area, the options are more limited and in some locations electricity is supplied under arrangements where retail competition does not apply in the same way.
What to check before assuming you can switch
The first question in WA is not which plan is cheapest — it is which retailers are actually able to supply your site given its location and connection. Start there, then compare the offers that are genuinely available to you.
Because the market is smaller than the east coast, the spread between offers can be narrower, and the fixed components of a plan carry more weight in the total.
How to compare plans in WA
Start from a recent electricity bill for the site you want to compare. The bill gives us the usage, the billing period and the network tariff that a comparison for a Western Australia site needs in order to reflect how you are actually charged.
Upload a bill and compare business electricity plans — free, and it takes about a minute. New to all this? Start with how to read a business electricity bill or browse the full set of business electricity guides.