Energy Made Easy for business: what the government tool does, and where it stops

I get asked this a lot, usually by an owner who’s already half-done the homework: “Why would I pay a broker when Energy Made Easy is free?”

It’s a fair question, and the honest answer surprises people: for some of you, you shouldn’t. If you run one small premises with a simple bill, go use Energy Made Easy, it’s free, it’s run by the government, and it’s genuinely good. I’ll even tell you that down the phone.

But for most businesses past a certain size, the government tool literally can’t show you your real options. There’s a hard line in the rules, and once you’re over it, the deals that actually matter aren’t on Energy Made Easy at all. This guide explains exactly where that line is, so you can work out which side of it you’re on in about two minutes.

I’m Joe. I run Smarta Switch with Chloe out of Chelmer in Brisbane. We’re paid by the energy retailer when you switch, never by you, so I’ve got no reason to talk you out of a free tool that’s right for you.

What Energy Made Easy actually is

Energy Made Easy is the Australian Energy Regulator’s free, independent price comparison website. It’s the real deal, not a lead-generation site dressed up as a comparison. You put in your postcode and some usage figures, and it shows you the published electricity and gas plans available at your address.

A few things worth knowing:

• It’s free and there are no ads or commissions. The AER is the regulator. Nobody pays to rank higher.
• It covers households and small business in NSW, Queensland (including South East Queensland), South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. Victoria has its own separate site, Victorian Energy Compare, so if you’ve got sites across the border that’s a gap to know about.
• It shows you the reference price. Plans get compared against the Default Market Offer, the regulated “safety net” rate, so you can see whether an offer is actually a discount or just dressed up as one. (For the record, the DMO reference price for SEQ small business is set to drop about 10% from 1 July 2026, so it’s a genuinely useful benchmark right now.)

If you’re a single small site, that’s a solid free tool and I’d back you to use it. So where’s the catch?

The line that changes everything: 100 MWh a year

Here’s the bit nobody explains.

In South East Queensland, the rules split business energy customers into two groups based on how much power you use:

• Under 100 MWh a year, you’re a “small customer.” Retailers are required to publish their offers, including on Energy Made Easy, so you can search and compare them yourself.
• Over 100 MWh a year, you’re a “large customer.” Your contract is fully contestable and negotiated directly. Those deals are not published on Energy Made Easy at all. There’s nothing for the tool to show you.

100 MWh is 100,000 kWh. As a rough feel: a small cafe, a salon, a single-room clinic or a small office usually sits well under it. A busy restaurant with a big kitchen, a gym running 24/7, a workshop with three-phase machinery, a warehouse, or any multi-site operator is often over it, or close enough that it’s worth checking.

Quick gut check. Add up your kWh across a year (four quarterly bills). Or shortcut it: if your power bill runs more than roughly $2,500 to $3,000 a month, or you can see a demand charge (a line in kVA or kW) on the bill, you’re either over the line or knocking on it. Either of those means Energy Made Easy is no longer seeing your full picture.

Where Energy Made Easy stops, even for small sites

Even if you’re genuinely a small customer and the tool works for you, there are a few things it isn’t built to do. Worth knowing before you lean on it for a real decision:

• It doesn’t model demand charges. If your bill has a demand (kVA) component, and a lot of Energex business tariffs do, that’s often the single biggest line on the bill. Energy Made Easy compares on usage rates, so two plans that look identical there can land hundreds of dollars apart once demand is priced in. I wrote a whole guide on demand charges because this one quietly catches so many owners.
• It only shows published offers. What’s on the site is the public rate card. A broker can often get a retailer’s business desk to sharpen a number below the published offer, especially on a multi-year term, because they’re quoting a whole panel against each other. The tool can’t do that, it’s not its job.
• It doesn’t do tenders, multi-site or C&I. If you’ve got more than one meter, or you’re over that 100 MWh line, the right move is a proper tender across the commercial retailers, not a postcode search. That’s a different process entirely, I’ve explained it here.
• You do the legwork, and you field the follow-up. You enter the numbers, read the fine print, pick the plan, and then handle the retailer’s retention calls when your current one tries to keep you. That’s fine if you enjoy it and have the time. Most owners I speak to don’t.

None of that is a knock on the tool. It’s a free regulator service doing exactly what it’s meant to do for the customers it’s meant to serve. It’s just worth being clear about where its edges are.

When you should just use Energy Made Easy (I mean it)

I’d genuinely point you to the free tool if:

• You run one small premises, under that 100 MWh line.
• Your bill has no demand charge, just usage and supply.
• You’re on a simple single-rate or time-of-use tariff.
• You’ve got a spare half-hour and you don’t mind doing it yourself.

In that situation a broker adds very little, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Punch in your details, compare against the DMO, pick the best market offer, done. That’s a win and it cost you nothing.

When a broker is the better call

Where I earn my keep is the stuff the tool can’t touch:

• There’s a demand charge on the bill. Getting the tariff and the demand right is usually worth more than the headline rate, and that’s not a postcode-search job.
• You’re over (or near) 100 MWh, or you’ve got multiple sites. Those contracts are negotiated, not published. You need someone quoting the commercial retailers against each other. I run that tender for you, then hand you the comparison.
• You’re out of contract or rolled over. If nobody re-quoted you, you’re almost certainly on the worst rate the retailer offers. That’s the number one reason business bills run high.
• You just don’t have the time. You send me your last bill, I compare the panel and bring back a real, like-for-like comparison within 24 hours. If your current deal is already sharp, I’ll tell you that and walk away. We’re paid by the energy retailer when you switch, never by you, so a quick look costs you nothing either way.

If you want the longer version of how to weigh any quote, free tool or broker, I put the whole checklist in how to compare business electricity quotes.

The honest summary

Energy Made Easy is a good, free, independent tool, and if you’re a small single site you should use it without guilt. The moment your bill grows a demand charge, you add a second meter, or you push past 100 MWh a year, it stops being able to show you the deals that actually move your bill. That’s not the tool failing, it’s just where the published market ends and the negotiated one begins.

That negotiated bit is exactly what I do. If you’re not sure which side of the line you’re on, send me your last bill and I’ll tell you in plain English, including “honestly, just use the free tool” if that’s the right answer for you.

Upload your bill and I’ll mark it up for free, or call me and we’ll work it out in five minutes.