ShatabdiThe lowest electricity rate on an offer may not give your venue the lowest bill. To compare offers, price the same electricity use on each one and include demand charges, the daily supply charge and any other fees.
That matters when your busiest hours are difficult to change. Dinner service happens when customers arrive. Refrigeration keeps running after the doors close. The useful question is what each offer would cost for the way your venue actually operates.
Start with your trading hours
A café opening for breakfast and a restaurant serving dinner can use the same amount of electricity but pay different usage charges. On a time-of-use plan, the price changes across the day. When equipment runs affects how much electricity you buy at each rate.
Gather your bills and usage history, ideally covering a full year so the comparison includes seasonal changes. Record any plans to extend your hours or add equipment. Last year’s use will not capture a new dishwasher or a longer dinner service.
Check the hours attached to each rate in the offer. Peak is usually the most expensive band, off-peak the least expensive, and shoulder sits between them where offered. There is no single peak schedule for NSW: the applicable windows can vary with the retailer, tariff, season and day.
Include preparation and closing time
Put preparation, service and clean-down alongside the meter history. A breakfast café may heat equipment before customers arrive; a restaurant may keep dishwashers and hot water running after the last order. For a pub, compare busy weekend service with quieter weekdays and the refrigeration load that remains after closing.
When adding a dinner service, ask for two estimates: one using today’s measured trading pattern and another stating the extra hours and equipment assumed. This lets you see how much of the result comes from the offer and how much comes from the changed business.
Understand the charges you are comparing
Your usage charge pays for the amount of electricity you use, measured in kilowatt-hours, or kWh. Multiply the electricity used in each time band by its rate.
A demand charge measures something different: how much power your venue draws during the intervals specified by the tariff. Ovens, hot water, dishwashers and air conditioning running together can create a high demand.
For example, an average load of 40 kilowatts, or kW, sustained for half an hour uses 20 kWh. You pay usage charges for those 20 kWh. If that interval qualifies under your tariff, the 40 kW may also help determine the demand charge. A brief equipment start-up spike is not the same as a high half-hour average.
Check the measurement interval, eligible hours and look-back period. Some demand tariffs use kVA rather than kW; use the unit in your offer. The demand charges guide explains these differences in more detail.
The daily supply charge is a separate cost for each day of the billing period. Add it even if the advertised usage rate looks attractive.
Compare the total: one venue, two offers
Here, a venue uses 6,000 kWh in 30 days, with 40% in peak periods and 35% in shoulder periods. Those service-hour loads make up most of its electricity use.
Illustrative Cable rate: 23c/kWh, above the 20c TOU off-peak rate. Actual pricing is set for the site. The battery supports flat-rate pricing by shifting electricity purchases towards lower-cost periods.
| Charge | Quantity | Time-of-useWith demand charges | Cable flat rateBacked by a battery | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | Total | Rate | Total | ||
| Peak usage | 2,400 kWh | 48c/kWh | $1,152.00 | 23c/kWh | $552.00 |
| Shoulder usage | 2,100 kWh | 30c/kWh | $630.00 | 23c/kWh | $483.00 |
| Off-peak usage | 1,500 kWh | 20c/kWh | $300.00 | 23c/kWh | $345.00 |
| Usage subtotal | 6,000 kWh | — | $2,082.00 | — | $1,380.00 |
| Demand | 40 kW × 30 days | 30c/kW/day | $360.00 | Absorbed by Cable | $0.00 |
| Supply | 30 days | $2.663967/day | $79.92 | $2.663967/day | $79.92 |
| Total for 30 days | — | — | $2,521.92 | — | $1,459.92 |
The Cable column is $1,062 lower over these 30 days: $702 from usage and $360 from demand. Peak and shoulder usage cost $747 less at 23c, while off-peak usage costs $45 more. For a venue with more overnight refrigeration and less evening trade, the balance would change.
These are illustrative electricity charges, including GST, not typical savings or a site quote. Both columns use the same supply input; other fees and contract costs are excluded. See how we built this example for the assumptions, exclusions and full calculation.
Check the agreement before deciding
Put the costs beside the commitments. Check how rates can change, how long the agreement runs, whether a deposit is required and what leaving early would cost. Include any exit costs on your existing agreement.
Compare the offers on the same GST basis, and include any fees or credits omitted from the simple example above. The business electricity bill guide helps you locate these items. If a charge is unclear, ask the provider to show how it affects the total.
How Cable’s offer works
Cable funds, owns and operates a battery at suitable venues. It buys electricity in lower-cost wholesale periods and uses stored power when prices rise. Cable absorbs network demand charges; you pay one usage rate across the day plus daily supply. Your bill still varies with consumption.
For a café, restaurant or pub, discuss battery space, landlord consent and installation around service hours. Check any additional site-work costs. The standard installation does not keep the venue powered during an outage.
Cable serves suitable sites on the Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy networks in NSW. Joining requires at least six months of smart-meter data, though you can request a quote earlier. The initial term is three years, with annual CPI adjustments and other permitted rate changes. Check the offer’s deposit, return conditions and early-exit charges.
To compare your venue’s costs, share your energy-account details and authorise access to usage history. Include planned changes to service hours or kitchen equipment.
Sources
Sources checked 3 November 2026. Comparison and pricing explanation updated 5 November 2026.
- AER: electricity tariffs — single-rate, time-of-use and demand pricing.
- AER: network tariffs — the distinction between network charges and retail offers.
- Australian Government: reviewing your business energy contract — comparing offers and demand-charge calculations.
- Ausgrid: 2026–27 network prices — the EA256 access charge used in the example.
- Cable FAQs and service areas — current published offer information and coverage.