Electricity pricing reforms
As part of the 2025 Budget, government announced that regulated tariffs for electricity, water supply and sewerage services will increase by 3% in 2025-26.
Government provides subsidised electricity to households and businesses through the electricity uniform tariff community service obligation (CSO). The CSO meets the gap between regulated electricity tariffs paid by customers and cost to supply electricity to customers.
The Territory’s electricity tariffs are currently among the lowest in the country and without the CSO an average Darwin household would pay nearly 50% more for electricity, with higher rates in regional and remote areas.
The electricity uniform tariff CSO has grown substantially over time as the cost of electricity supply has increased faster than tariffs. The CSO is estimated to increase by around $51 million to $192 million in 2025-26.
To ensure the electricity uniform tariff CSO remains financially sustainable and targeted to customers with the greatest need, government is implementing changes to regulated electricity tariffs under the Electricity Pricing Order.
Reforms to electricity tariffs will be implemented in three phases:
- From 1 July 2025:
- a new electricity tariff will apply for commercial customers consuming between 500 megawatt hours (MWh) and 750 MWh per annum set 5% higher than the standard commercial tariff
- NT and Commonwealth government customers will move to cost-reflective tariffs
- in line with government’s election commitment, the standard electricity feed-in tariff will double to 18.66c/kilowatt hours (kWh) for regulated households and businesses that export electricity to the grid between 3pm and 9pm.
- From 1 January 2026:
- households will continue to pay the domestic electricity tariff for the customer's first 55 kWh of consumption each day and a higher tariff equivalent to the standard commercial tariff for consumption above this threshold. Consumption will be calculated each billing period based on average daily kWh consumed.
- new time of use tariffs will be introduced for households and small businesses, providing options for customers to select a plan that best suits their use and encourages use that supports the electricity grid.
- From 1 July 2026:
- fixed daily charges for high voltage customers will move to cost-reflective levels
- local government councils will be subject to cost-reflective tariffs.
The peak feed-in tariff will encourage electricity exports when demand from the electricity grid is at its highest level and will support increased levels of rooftop solar and battery storage.
Large users (500 MWh to 750 MWh)
Reducing the CSO subsidy for large users is in line with approaches of other jurisdictions and recognises that large electricity users can make investments in technologies, energy efficiency measures or better energy use to reduce electricity costs.
The large user tariff for users consuming between 500 MWh and 750 MWh will be 5% higher than the standard commercial tariff, large users will pay around 8% more for their electricity (including indexation). The large user tariff will commence 1 July 2025.
The increase in tariffs for large users is lower than the expected increases for unregulated customers, with tariffs remaining below the cost of supply and these customers continuing to receive a subsidy through the CSO.
Domestic electricity tariffs
Residential households pay the domestic tariff and receive a larger subsidy than businesses on commercial tariffs. To ensure the CSO remains financially sustainable, the lower tariff will be limited to the first 55 kWh of consumption (averaged over billing cycles), this equates to about 20,000 kWh per year or about 2.5 times the average household consumption of 8,500 kWh. Domestic electricity tariffs will be capped from 1 January 2026.
Customers that may be impacted include households with very high usage, domestic customers where multiple households share a single meter (such as apartment blocks), and customers with both residential premises and a business/commercial operation. Bill impacts will vary depending on actual usage.
Time-of-use tariffs
The Territory’s electricity pricing order includes time-of-use tariffs, applying different consumption charges for electricity depending on the time of day.
Growth in behind-the-meter solar is driving lower minimum demand levels during daylight hours in the Darwin-Katherine interconnected system, particularly during the dry season, and is resulting in increased system security risks.
Revised time-of-use tariffs should allow some customers to achieve lower electricity costs, better align tariff structures with actual costs, and incentivise the efficient use of behind-the-meter renewable energy and batteries in a manner that supports the electricity network.
The revised time-of-use tariffs are currently being finalised in consultation with electricity retailers and will be available to eligible domestic and small business customers from 1 January 2026.
High voltage customers
High voltage customers are typically commercial and industrial customers, they often have a primary connection that uses more than 750 MWh of electricity with consumption at individual sites (for example, a backup connection point) falling below the pricing order threshold. Around 30 high voltage customers will pay higher fixed charges in line with Power and Water Corporation network charges but will still be protected for their consumption through the pricing order.
In 2023-24, the Power and Water Corporation significantly increased the fixed daily network charges that apply to tariff 6 customers (high voltage customers) to about $110 per day. This compares to the regulated fixed daily charge of about $0.80 per day under the current pricing order, resulting in a material gap between the underlying cost of supply and tariff revenue.
Increases to fixed daily charges for high voltage customers will be implemented from 1 July 2026.
Government customers
NT and Commonwealth government customers will move to cost reflective tariffs from 1 July 2025.
Local government councils will move to cost reflective pricing from 1 July 2026.
Government customers, including NTG and Commonwealth agencies, and local councils will need to procure electricity through an electricity retailer on commercial terms.
Contact
To understand your individual circumstances, you should contact your electricity retailer:
- Jacana Energy
- Phone: 1800 522 262
- Rimfire Energy
- Phone: 1800 746 347
- Power and Water Corporation
- Phone: 1800 245 092
