A new report from the Climate Council, Power Games: Who’s driving high power bills? reveals that Aussies are being ripped off, while big polluters line their coffers, in part by overcharging millions of us, punishing loyalty and in some cases misleading Aussie consumers.
Expensive gas and unreliable coal clunkers drive spikes in prices that hit families and businesses where it hurts. The evidence is clear: without renewable energy, power bills would be even higher. Renewable energy is the only thing pushing electricity prices down, cutting $417 off the average household electricity bill in 2024 (a collective saving of $3.8 billion).
While gas normally provides just a fraction of the electricity in Australia’s main grid, it dictates wholesale electricity prices up to 90 percent of the time. Domestic gas prices are now four times higher than when Australia began exporting the fossil fuel from the east coast in 2015, exposing Aussie households to the price shocks from volatile global markets.
If that seems unfair, it is. But Aussies are taking their power back in droves. In the second half of 2025, nearly 140,000 households installed solar panels – joining the one in three who already have them in place – and almost 185,000 homes connected household batteries.
With renewables bringing down bills for families and businesses, Aussies can stop funding polluting electricity retailers and instead save for their own lives – the kids’ school excursion, an emergency vet visit or simply the weekly shop – a savings benefit and a return to fairness every Aussie should have access to.
ENDS
The below case studies of Aussie families, homeowners, farmers and business owners are available for interview to share their stories of taking their power back with renewable energy.
New South Wales
Ken Enderby, Concord, Sydney.
Ken and his wife now save about $6000 a year on their energy bills after creating their own power supply by installing solar and a battery, joining a virtual power plant and making money by selling energy back to the grid, switching to a heat pump water heater – which cut their yearly hot water bill down from $600 to $0 – and switching to an electric vehicle.
Paul Barry, Sydney.
Paul Barry is a publisher, consultant and writer, who also lives with a rare form of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) that limits his speech and movement. Paul’s family home is an energy-intensive household, with a pool heated ten months of the year for his son who lives with an intellectual disability who needs to swim regularly for exercise and self-regulation. Together with Paul’s own symptoms of temperature sensitivity, his household uses a lot of electricity. Before installing solar, Paul’s family’s average electricity bill was at least $600 a month. In 2019 Paul spent almost $20,000 on solar and a battery, with a payback period of 6.7 years. Paul’s since saved $3000 per year and when using the solar optimally, reduced his family’s electricity bill by $250 a month.
James O’Hanlon, Armidale.
James lives with his wife and two young daughters, a big dog and four chickens. In July 2025 his family installed a 6.6kW system, consisting of 15 solar panels, plus a Catch Solar Relay to heat their hot water tank using excess solar. James’ family’s most recent bill, covering the sunny summer months, had dropped 75% compared to the previous year. His first bill after getting solar was 21% lower compared to the year before despite using a lot of energy for heating in the cold Armidale winter. James hopes to add a battery as the experience has highlighted the benefits of storage, finding it hard to use up all that excess solar power during off peak daytime hours.
Alisdair Tulloch, Hunter Valley.
Alisdair is a fifth-generation grapegrower and winemaker at Keith Tulloch wines. The winery has solar and an electric forklift, and is certified carbon neutral. In 2024, Alisdair launched his own wine label, Aeon Wines, with his wife Kenisha. In 2018 the Tulloch family constructed a solar array which met 72 per cent of the farm’s power needs and had a four year payback, which at the time had an immediate savings benefit of $25,000 a year and reduced their emissions by the equivalent of 100 tonnes of CO2. Alisdair can speak to his experience with solar cutting and offsetting electricity costs for his family’s business even as electricity bills rise across Australia.
Nic Seton, CEO of Parents for Climate said:
“Renewable energy is now the single biggest force pushing power bills down in Australia. Without the wind and solar already in our grid, families would be paying hundreds of dollars more every year.
“Clean energy is a powerful deflation driver that shields households from the rising costs of volatile global gas markets and failing coal clunkers. It’s crystal clear that the fastest way to cut bills is to build more renewables and storage, and to make sure every household, including renters, can access those savings.”
Victoria
Bo Christopher, Mansfield.
Bo is the President of the Mansfield Football and Netball Club, which was the first in Australia to work with Footy for Climate through the Power Forward program to install a solar and battery storage system. The Mansfield Football and Netball Club now has a 29.04kW solar system with 40.3kWh of battery storage, which is expected to cut the club’s annual electricity bill from $9000 to $900 – an anticipated saving of around 90 per cent.
Michael Unwin, Windermere, Ballarat.
Michael Unwin, horticulture farmer and operator of the Michael Unwin winery based in the proposed Western Victoria REZ, operates offgrid with a self-sufficient solar set up and carbon friendly and regenerative farming practices. Michael can speak to extreme heat caused by climate change impacting his operations and his belief that the storage of energy is the biggest opportunity to reduce emissions on farms and keep his farm profitable.
Claire Harvey, Melbourne
Claire is a single mum who lives in a rental property with her two kids in Melbourne’s outer south eastern suburbs. She relies on a car to drive her daughter to and from sports games, and in May 2025, saved up enough to replace her petrol car with an EV. To help reduce costs, Claire charges her car between 10am and 3pm, when power is cheapest from her green power cooperative, CoPower, at $0.08/kWh.
Queensland
Garry Harding, Lake MacDonald
Garry lives with his partner and two teen children in regional Queensland. About 10 years ago, the family installed a 5.2kW solar system to manage rising power bills. Since then, they have become far more intentional about how and when they use electricity, for example by adjusting hot water timing and shifting appliances into the middle of the day, when solar is strongest. The result has been around $1,500 a year in electricity bill savings, plus significant additional savings from replacing their petrol car with an EV. Garry is highly knowledgeable about energy efficiency and demand management solutions, and can speak about how his household uses smart meter data to make sure they are getting the most out of their solar generation.
Brad Aldred, Brisbane
Since making a series of solar and home battery investments over the past 9 years, Brad and his family of four now pay just $13 a quarter for electricity and that’s including the costs of running an electric car. Eventually, the family would like their property to be self-sufficient: savings from their clean energy investments have so far gone back towards further efficiency upgrades including solar hot water, removing gas fixtures, improving home insulation, and installing a new modular home battery through the Federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program last year. With a total of 10kW of solar panels on their property, the family has saved an estimated $1,500 a year on power bills plus an additional $70 a week on petrol.
Bernadette Systa, Redland City
With five children, a partner, two dogs and a pool, Bernadette relies on rooftop solar to help manage her household costs in Redland City, QLD. In 2022, the family upgraded from a small 8-panel array to a 5kW system and heat pump. They now save over $2,000 a year on electricity bills which, together with government incentives, enabled them to purchase an electric vehicle this year. As an early adopter of household solar, Bernadette benefits from the Queensland Government’s 44-cent feed-in tariff. She plans to put those savings towards a home battery by the time the scheme expires in 2028.
Toni Chapman, Cairns
Toni lives with her husband in Cairns. In 2016, the retired couple used their superannuation for solar panels to help reduce the costs of what was then a 6-person household. They have since installed a 10kW battery to power their 3 air-conditioning units, pool pump, 2 fridges and appliances throughout the day and night. With their power bills now down to $60-90 per month, the battery has saved Toni’s family an estimated $3,000 a year.
Bianca Sands, Hervey Bay
Bianca lives with her husband, 2 teen children, and dog in Hervey Bay. The family installed solar panels over 15 years ago with the help of government rebates. They currently have a 16-panel, 3kW solar system that has more than covered all their home energy needs for several years, sometimes even resulting in refund cheques of up to $700 a year. In total, Bianca expects the solar array to have saved her family over $30,000, which the family has used on home renovations and more recently, an electric vehicle that also serves as a back-up power source during power outages.
South Australia
Karl Johncock, Bellevue Heights, Adelaide
Karl, a teacher, lives with his partner Natalie and their border collie, and just bought a house six months ago. Karl can speak to his experience of saving money in their first summer in their new home despite loving to run the electricity-chewing air conditioning and his partner, Natalie, working from home. Karl can speak to the purely economic motivations behind his choice to power his home with renewables.
Australian Capital Territory
Tim Veldre, Canberra
Tim is a Canberra father of two. During the peak of summer after installing a 6.6KW solar system on his family home, Tim’s costs went into the black and the energy companies owed him money instead. Tim can speak to getting access to household solar through the Sustainable Household Scheme with a low interest rate loan. Tim’s family’s financial benefit in 2 years is just under $4,000, having cut $2,625 off electricity bills and $1,350 in feed-in income. Since installation, Tim’s household has exported 15 MWh of electricity to the grid, enough to power an average ACT household for nearly two years.
Western Australia
Bronwyn David, Perth
Bronwyn lives with her husband, two young adult children and dog in Perth. In 2013, she chose to install solar panels on their house instead of getting the new car she had planned for. With both parents working from home, a pool, ducted air-conditioning and family-sized loads of laundry to manage each day, Bronwyn says solar was a necessary investment that has helped curb their frightening growth in electricity costs each year.
Tasmania
Judi Walker, West Ulverstone
Judi lives in rural Tasmania and is a medical educator and professor of rural health at the University of Tasmania. She is on the Ahpra National Psychology Board, Executive Chair of a provider of in-home care services, and on the Board of the Tasmanian Postgraduate Medical Council. Her partner of many years is in dementia care, she lives alone, and recently installed 19 solar panels with an average annual daily electricity usage cost of $0.38C.
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