Analysis Of Residential Gas Plans In Australia [April 2024]

We analysed 1,367 gas plans on offer in Australia in April 2024, to answer one question - how do residential gas prices differ across the country?

Specifically, we looked at the residential market gas plans available in large Australian cities on the National Electricity Market - which covers QLD, NSW, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and SA.

We analysed factors like daily supply charges, usage charges and others to identify which cities have the highest prices.

Here's what we've learned.

Summary

• Households in Melbourne spend the most on gas, with an estimated average annual bill of $1,941 for 2 person households.
• Albury has the least competitive gas market, with only 4 retailers offering plans.
• Victoria has the most competitive gas market, with over 14 gas retailers offering plans in most cities.
• Brisbane has the most expensive gas, at an average cost of 6.03 cents per MJ.
• Albury has the cheapest gas, at an average cost of 2.71 cents per MJ.
• The Gold Coast has the highest daily supply charges, at an average of 112.4 cents per day. This is 42% higher than the average of the other cities analysed here.
• Sydney and Wollongong have the lowest daily supply charges, at an average of 62.6 cents per day.

Households in Melbourne spend the most on gas

While raw gas rates can give an indication of how expensive gas is in a particular city, it's not until you match these rates against benchmark usage data for the same city that you can understand how much a typical household spends on gas.

Here's the benchmark usage data for each of the cities analysed.

By taking this benchmark usage data from the Australian Energy Regulator, we have estimated annual costs based on usage rates and daily supply charges.

For a typical 2 person household, Melburnians spend the most on gas with an average annual cost of $1,941.

Toowoomba households spend the least, at just $636 per year.

Brisbane has the most expensive gas

Usage charges are fairly straightforward - they are the charge that households incur per MJ of gas consumed.

Of the cities analysed for this report, Brisbane had the most expensive gas rates, with an average of 6.03 cents per MJ.

Albury, on the other hand, had the cheapest gas, with an average rate of 2.71 cents per MJ.

The Gold Coast has the highest daily supply charges

Daily supply charges are charged by retailers to households for each day that they are connected to the gas network.

They are often an overlooked cost when comparing gas plans.

The Gold Coast has the highest daily supply charges of the cities analysed in this report, with an average of 112.4 cents per day.

Sydney and Wollongong have the lowest daily supply charges, at an average of 62.6 cents per day.

Albury has the least competitive gas market

While each region of Australia only has a single gas distributor, they typically have multiple retailers who offer gas plans.

In Albury, there are only 4 retailers offering residential gas plans as of April 2024.

In Victorian cities, however, there tend to be at least 14 different retailers offering plans, meaning that there is much more choice for consumers.

Conclusion

Thanks for taking the time to look through our analysis of 1,367 residential gas plans on offer in Australia in April 2024.

Feel free to quote any of the statistics, or use any of the charts in this report for your own work, as long as you provide attribution in the form of a link back to this page.

If you have any questions about this study, feel free to get in touch at louis@energyse.com.au.

Method

To prepare this analysis, publicly available gas plan data from the Australian Energy Regulator were gathered.

Analysis was carried out on the data to see if any trends emerged for factors like daily supply charges, usage rates and more.

Correlations and trends that were identified were charted and described in this report.

For more information about this study, or any other general questions, get in touch at louis@energyse.com.au.