What does your house actually cost to run?
Independent calculators for the running cost of the things in your house, built for Australian prices, Australian climate and Australian rebates. Tell us where you live and how many of you there are — every number on this site becomes yours.
We are not selling anything. There is no lead form, no installer network and no quote to request. Every default figure comes from a published determination and is listed, with its date, on the methodology page.
Start here: what should heat your water?
Hot water is a quarter of the average Australian household's energy bill and the one decision most people make in a hurry, on the day the old system dies. Three questions is enough to rank every option.
Want the ten-year cost, the rebates you can claim, and the working behind every number? Open the full calculator.
Why the answer is not the same for everyone
Most comparisons of hot water systems publish one table and leave it there. That table is wrong for most of the people reading it, because four things that vary enormously across Australia all move the answer at once.
Electricity costs 52% more in Adelaide than in Melbourne
South Australia's reference rate is 41.9c per kilowatt hour. Victoria's is 27.5c. That single difference is enough to change which system wins. It is also why a calculator that hardcodes a national average is not really a calculator.
Two states have no off-peak hot water tariff at all
Western Australia and the Northern Territory have no residential controlled load rate. Everywhere else, an electric storage tank can run overnight at roughly two thirds of the standard price. In Perth and Darwin it cannot, so it runs at the full rate around the clock — and the cheapest way to heat water with electricity disappears.
A heat pump works better in Brisbane than in Hobart
A heat pump moves heat out of the outside air, so it does less well when there is less heat in the air to move. The same unit that manages an effective coefficient of performance of 2.55 in Darwin manages 2.14 in Hobart and Canberra. Both are still far better than an element — but the gap between them is a real difference in your bill, and no other Australian tool shows it.
| City | Mean air temperature | Nameplate COP | Effective annual COP | Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darwin, NT | 27.6 °C | 3.2 | 2.55 | 20% below nameplate |
| Brisbane, QLD | 20.8 °C | 3.2 | 2.39 | 25% below nameplate |
| Perth, WA | 18.9 °C | 3.2 | 2.34 | 27% below nameplate |
| Sydney, NSW | 18.6 °C | 3.2 | 2.33 | 27% below nameplate |
| Adelaide, SA | 17.4 °C | 3.2 | 2.29 | 29% below nameplate |
| Melbourne, VIC | 15.1 °C | 3.2 | 2.22 | 31% below nameplate |
| Hobart, TAS | 13.1 °C | 3.2 | 2.14 | 33% below nameplate |
| Canberra, ACT | 13.6 °C | 3.2 | 2.14 | 33% below nameplate |
A heat pump moves heat out of the air, so it works less well when the air is cold — and the laboratory test that produces the nameplate figure does not see compressor cycling, standing losses or a household drawing four showers in an hour. These figures are calibrated against Sustainability Victoria's measured Melbourne running costs. A heat pump is still the cheapest electric option everywhere in Australia; it is simply not three and a half times as good as an element.
Gas is a connection charge as much as a fuel, and it decides the answer
This is the one that surprises people, and it is the reason the calculator asks a question no competitor asks.
If hot water is the only thing you use gas for, the daily supply charge — $300 to $350 a year in most states — is part of what hot water costs you. Switching to a heat pump saves the whole thing, and on our figures the heat pump then wins on running cost in every single state, by $84 in the ACT to $183 in Victoria.
If you also cook and heat with gas, the connection stays whatever you do. Hot water should carry only a share of it, gas instantaneous drops to $319–$418 a year, and it beats a heat pump on running cost in five of the six states with mains gas. Same house, same appliances, opposite conclusion — decided entirely by whether the gas bill would disappear or merely shrink.
What each state pays
These are the government reference rates that apply from 1 July 2026 — the Default Market Offer in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia, the Victorian Default Offer, and the equivalent regulated or standing rate elsewhere. Retail market offers are often below them, which is why every rate on this site is yours to overwrite.
| State or territory | Standard rate | Controlled load | Daily supply | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 33.1c/kWh | 19.3c/kWh | $1.66/day | Ausgrid distribution zone |
| Victoria | 27.5c/kWh | 21.4c/kWh | $1.27/day | Jemena distribution zone |
| Queensland | 28.0c/kWh | 16.4c/kWh | $1.92/day | Energex, south-east Queensland |
| South Australia | 41.9c/kWh | 22.2c/kWh | $1.80/day | SA Power Networks, whole of state |
| Western Australia | 33.3c/kWh | none available | $1.19/day | Synergy Home Plan A1 |
| Tasmania | 28.0c/kWh | 21.1c/kWh | $1.68/day | Aurora Energy Tariff 31, controlled load on Tariff 41 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 37.0c/kWh | 27.8c/kWh | $1.34/day | ActewAGL standing offer |
| Northern Territory | 31.7c/kWh | none available | $0.63/day | Jacana Energy standard residential |
Government reference rates effective 1 July 2026. Market offers from retailers are often below them. Western Australia and the Northern Territory have no residential controlled load tariff at all, which removes the cheapest way to run an electric storage tank in those two markets.
The two calculators
Hot Water System Calculator
All eight system types compared at once for your household — heat pump, gas, electric, solar thermal and LPG. Annual running cost, ten-year total cost of ownership, emissions, and every rebate you can claim where you live.
Appliance Running Cost Calculator
What forty-odd household appliances cost to run at your electricity rate, from the second fridge in the garage to the pool pump. Build a list of the ones you own and see what they cost together.
Why you should believe these numbers
Anyone can publish a calculator. The question is whether its output is right, and almost nothing in this market gives you a way to check.
Sustainability Victoria publishes measured annual water heating running costs for a Melbourne household. It is the closest thing to an independent benchmark in Australia, and this calculator's constants are fitted to reproduce it — within two per cent on every system type it covers:
| System | Sustainability Victoria | This calculator | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric storage, peak tariff | $1,015 | $1,032 | +1.7% |
| Heat pump, peak tariff | $435 | $427 | −1.7% |
| Gas storage | $780 | $777 | −0.4% |
| Gas instantaneous | $655 | $659 | +0.6% |
Four-person household, 150 litres a day, Melbourne, at mid-2024 Victorian energy prices — the prices Sustainability Victoria used when it published the figures. The comparison is re-run automatically every time the site is built, and the build fails if any of them drifts more than five per cent.
The most consequential thing that fit tells us is about heat pumps. The number on the box is a coefficient of performance between 3.0 and 4.5. The effective annual figure, once you count cold mornings, compressor cycling and standing losses, is a little over 2 in Melbourne. A calculator using the nameplate figure understates what a heat pump costs to run by about a third. Ours does not, and the methodology page shows the working.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to heat water in Australia?
It depends on one thing more than any other: whether you use gas for anything besides hot water. A heat pump uses roughly a third of the electricity of a conventional electric storage tank and beats gas comfortably where hot water is the only gas appliance, because dropping the connection saves the whole daily supply charge. Where the gas connection is staying for cooking or heating anyway, gas instantaneous is usually cheaper to run than a heat pump — including in South Australia and the ACT, where it wins on cost outright. If you have no gas at all, a heat pump wins everywhere and it is not close.
Do I have to give you my details to use the calculators?
No. There is no sign-up, no email capture and no quote request anywhere on this site. Your household settings are saved in your own browser so the figures are still yours next visit, and they never leave your device.
How often are the prices updated?
Energy prices are reviewed quarterly and after every regulatory reset. The current figures come from the determinations that took effect on 1 July 2026. Rebate schemes are reviewed quarterly as well, because they change without much notice — Victoria's income test arrived on 1 July 2026 and the New South Wales co-payment rule changed in September 2025.
How does this site make money?
Advertising, and in future affiliate links that will be labelled as such wherever they appear. Nobody pays to appear in a comparison, no result is sponsored, and no installer has any relationship with this site. Our disclosure page sets out exactly how it works.
Can I use my own electricity and gas rates?
Yes, and you should — the reference rates are a starting point, not what you necessarily pay. Open My home and put the figures from your own bill in. Every calculator, table and worked example on the site recalculates immediately, and anything you have set is marked as yours so a default can never pass itself off as your number.