Australian commercial electricity prices have outpaced inflation in most years over the past decade. The good news: most businesses can cut 10–30% off their bill, and the levers aren't complicated. They're just rarely worked through in the right order.
Here are seven ways to reduce your business electricity bill in Australia, ordered from easiest (do this today, no capex) to highest-effort (worth it once the basics are done).
1. Get a lower price on your energy
This is the highest-ROI move for almost every Australian business, and it's free.
Most businesses are paying more than they need to because:
- They've rolled onto an evergreen rate after their original contract ended.
- They've used a broker whose commission is paid by the retailer they placed the business with, not by them.
- They're negotiating as a single site, when group buying would beat any individual rate.
The easiest fix for multisite operators: join an energy buyers group. Termina's buying group aggregates over 9,000 commercial sites across Australia and uses that combined volume to negotiate prices no single business can get on its own. We're a commission-free energy broker. We refuse retailer commissions and only charge a share of the savings we deliver. That's the savings-split model. If we don't save you money, you don't pay us. It's free to join, and the lowest-effort move on this list by a wide margin.
2. Change your time-of-use plan if you're on one
If your bill shows different rates for peak, shoulder, and off-peak, you're on a time-of-use (TOU) tariff, and your savings depend on how well your usage matches the rate windows.
A café open 6am–4pm shouldn't be paying peak rates from 4pm–9pm when it's already closed. A warehouse with steady, low-intensity load is often better off on flat than on a demand tariff. The fix is usually free: ask your network distributor (Ausgrid, Powercor, Energex, SAPN, etc.) what alternative tariffs you're eligible for. Switching takes one billing cycle.
If you're staying on TOU, shift load where you can. Pre-cool before peak rates kick in, run dishwashers off-peak, charge batteries or EV assets overnight.
3. Install LEDs
The cheapest, fastest energy efficiency move on this list. LED upgrades reduce lighting energy by 60–80%, with paybacks of 1–3 years and state-scheme incentives that often cover most of the install cost.
If your business still has fluorescent tubes, halogens, or HID lights anywhere (back-of-house, warehouses, signage, car parks, freezer rooms), this is the easiest dollar you'll find. There's no good reason to be running anything but LEDs in 2026.
4. Install solar (and consider batteries)
For most businesses with daytime usage, commercial solar is the highest-impact single intervention. Typical paybacks are 3–6 years for systems sized to self-consumption, with internal rates of return frequently above 20%.
The trade-off: it requires upfront capital. Get these right:
- Size to consumption, not roof space. The economics work because you're avoiding the retail rate you'd otherwise pay (e.g. 35 c/kWh), not because you're earning the export rate (4–6 c/kWh).
- Get an interval-data analysis before sizing. Anyone selling you a system without overlaying your half-hourly data against a generation profile is selling you a guess.
- Watch for network export limits. Many distributors now cap commercial export at zero or a low limit in solar-saturated areas.
Batteries are now part of the conversation, not just for backup. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program (launched July 2025) extended STC-style rebates to small business installs.
If you don't want the capex, a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), where a third party owns the system and you buy the output at a fixed rate, delivers the savings without owning the asset. PPAs are increasingly viable for Australian businesses with stable site tenure.
5. Replace old equipment
Old equipment runs longer, hotter, and dirtier than new equipment. The line items where this matters most:
- HVAC units more than 12–15 years old
- Commercial refrigeration without strip curtains, night blinds, or EC fan motors
- Old compressors with 20–30% leak rates (common, and pure waste)
- Inefficient hot water systems
The trick is sequencing. Don't replace anything that's still working. But the moment a piece of equipment fails, replace it with the highest-efficiency model your supplier offers. The energy delta over a 10-year asset life almost always beats the upfront price difference.
Check your state's energy efficiency scheme (VEU in VIC, ESS in NSW, REPS in SA, QESS in QLD) for upgrade subsidies. Most cover a meaningful portion of the install cost in exchange for the energy savings certificates the upgrade generates.
6. Manage demand (for sites paying demand charges)
If your bill includes a demand charge (a $/kVA or $/kW line item), your single highest 30-minute kW reading in the month sets that charge, even if the spike only happened once. Reducing peak demand is often more valuable than reducing total kWh.
Practical demand management:
- Stagger equipment startup so compressors, ovens, and HVAC don't all kick on at the same minute.
- Pre-cool or pre-heat outside peak demand windows.
- Identify your monthly peak event from interval data. It's usually a single, fixable cause.
- Battery peak-shaving is increasingly viable as installed costs fall.
A 10–15% reduction in peak demand is achievable in most facilities and reads straight to the bottom line.
7. If you operate multiple sites, leverage buying power
For franchises, retail chains, hospitality groups, or any business with more than a handful of sites, your problem isn't just price. It's coordination. Tenders go stale. Contracts roll over without renegotiation. Different sites end up on different retailers, different tariffs, different states. Reconciling it becomes a part-time job for someone in finance.
Three things change at scale:
- Volume commands a lower wholesale-plus-margin offer. A 50-site portfolio is a different conversation than a single site, and it should be priced like one.
- Continuous tendering beats annual scrambles. The market moves faster than your contract calendar.
- A consolidated platform for invoices, contracts, and meter data eliminates the hidden cost of admin and surfaces the billing errors a spreadsheet process will always miss.
This is what Termina was built for. We're a commission-free, multisite energy management platform managing procurement and billing for 9,000+ Australian commercial sites, including Betty's Burgers, Pizza Hut, Duratec, and other multi-site operators. We work on a savings-split: a share of what we save you, and nothing else. No retailer commissions, no upfront fees.
If you have ten or more sites and your energy is currently being managed in a spreadsheet, that's the conversation worth having.
Frequently asked questions
How much can a business actually save on its electricity bill?
Most Australian businesses save 10–30% by combining a lower retail rate, the right tariff, and basic efficiency upgrades. Multi-site operators often save more once their portfolio is consolidated under a single buying group and procurement process.
What's the difference between an energy broker and an energy buyers group?
A broker shops the market on your behalf and is usually paid a commission by the retailer they place you with, meaning their incentive is to place you, not to save you money. An energy buyers group aggregates demand from many businesses and uses combined volume to negotiate. Termina operates as a buying group with a commission-free, savings-split fee model.
Is commercial solar worth it for an Australian business?
For businesses with daytime consumption, almost always. Current paybacks are 3–6 years for systems sized to self-consumption. The economics weaken if you export heavily, so size to your load.
What's a demand tariff and how do I know if I'm on one?
A demand tariff charges based on your single highest 30-minute kW reading in a billing period, on top of your usage charges. If you see a $/kVA or $/kW line item on your bill, you're on one. Larger sites are most often affected.
What's the best single move I can make today to reduce my electricity bill?
Get a lower price on your energy. If you have ten or more sites, join a buying group like Termina. If you have a single site, compare offers on Energy Made Easy and renegotiate 90 days before your contract ends.
Termina is an Australian commission-free energy management platform or "energy broker" managing procurement, billing, and energy data for over 9,000 commercial sites. We don't take broker commissions. We work on a savings-split model.
