Why is my business power bill so high? The 7 real reasons, from a Brisbane broker

I’m Joe, I run Smarta Switch with Chloe, out of Chelmer in Brisbane. The question I hear more than any other, usually down the phone with a bill in someone’s hand, is some version of: “Why is my power bill so high all of a sudden?”

Short answer: it’s rarely one big thing. It’s usually three or four smaller things stacking up, a rate that quietly rolled over, a demand charge nobody explained, a tariff that was never right for your site. Each one adds a slice. Together they’re why your bill looks nothing like the one you signed up for.

Here’s the honest list of what’s actually driving it, and how to tell which ones are hitting your bill. If you’d rather I just look, upload your last bill and I’ll mark it up for free. We’re paid by the energy retailer when you switch, never by you.

First, rule out the obvious

Before we get into rates, check the boring stuff, because sometimes that’s the whole story:

• Did you actually use more? A hot Brisbane summer with the aircon flat out, a new fridge or oven, longer trading hours, an extra staff member running equipment, usage genuinely climbs. Compare the kWh used this bill versus the same quarter last year, not just the dollar total.
• Is it estimated? If the meter wasn’t read, the retailer guesses, and they rarely guess low. Look for the word “estimated” near the read. A catch-up bill the following quarter can sting.
• More days in the billing period? A 96-day bill costs more than an 89-day one. Check the dates.

If none of that explains it, the problem is in your rates and charges, and that’s where the real money hides.

1. You’ve rolled onto an out-of-contract rate

This is the single most common one, and the most expensive. When your fixed-term contract ends and you don’t do anything, you don’t keep that nice rate, you roll onto the retailer’s default or “out-of-contract” rate, which is almost always dearer. Sometimes a lot dearer.

No letter shouts about it. The bill just creeps up over a few cycles and you assume that’s “the market.” It usually isn’t. It’s the rollover. If your contract was signed more than a couple of years ago and nobody’s touched it since, this is very likely part of your answer. (Here’s the renewal checklist that stops it.)

2. The demand charge

If you’re on a commercial tariff, there’s a fair chance your bill has a demand charge, billed in kVA or kW, based on the single highest 15- or 30-minute spike of power you pulled in the month. Not how much you used. The peak you hit.

It’s the line owners least understand and retailers least explain. Get one bad spike, everything switching on at once on a Monday, and you can pay for that peak all month. On a lot of sites the demand charge is 20–40% of the whole bill. If yours has a kVA line on it, that’s often where the “why is it so high” lives. (Full breakdown of demand charges here.)

3. You’re on the wrong tariff

Energex sorts every connection into a tariff based on your size and usage shape. Here’s the catch: when your business changes, you add equipment, extend hours, grow, nobody automatically moves you to a better-fitting tariff. You can sit on a structure that’s wrong for how you actually run for years.

A cafe on a demand tariff that’d be cheaper on a flat one. A workshop on a small-business tariff that should be on a demand tariff. Wrong tariff = paying the wrong shape of bill every single month. It’s fixable, but only if someone checks.

4. Network charges keep climbing

Look at your bill and you’ll see roughly two halves: the energy (the actual electricity, set by your retailer) and the network (the poles, wires and substations, set by Energex). The network slice is regulated and changes every July, usually up. Even on a “fixed” energy deal, this part can move under you.

You can’t negotiate Energex’s network charges. But you can make sure you’re on the network tariff that suits your usage, and that your retailer isn’t padding their margin on top. Both are worth checking.

5. Your “fixed” rate didn’t fix everything

People sign a “fixed” contract and assume the whole bill is locked. It isn’t. A fixed deal usually locks your energy usage rates, the c/kWh, and leaves network charges, demand charges, metering and government levies free to move. So your bill can rise while your rate is technically “fixed.” Anyone who told you the whole thing was locked was fibbing. (Fixed vs variable, explained properly.)

6. The quiet extras, metering, levies, GST

Small lines, but they add up: metering charges (especially if you’ve got a smart or interval meter), environmental and government levies, and GST on the lot. None of these are scandals on their own. But when a retailer’s loaded your energy rate, every percentage-based charge on top is bigger too. It compounds.

7. Nobody’s re-quoted it in years

The big one underneath all of it: most business energy contracts are signed once, by a sales rep, often years ago, and then never looked at again. The market moves, your usage moves, the retailer quietly keeps charging the old way. 8–22% above today’s market is the range we see most often when we re-quote a Brisbane bill that’s been sitting untouched.

That’s not because the owner did anything wrong. It’s because energy is the one overhead nobody has time to babysit. Which is the whole reason brokers exist.

How to work out which ones are hitting you

Grab your most recent bill and check, in order:

1. Contract end date, expired or missing? You’ve likely rolled over (reason 1).
2. A kVA or “demand” line? That’s reason 2, and worth a proper look.
3. kWh used vs the same quarter last year, genuinely up? Part of it is usage (rule-out section).
4. “Estimated” anywhere near the read? Reason on the rule-out list.
5. Your tariff name/code, if you can’t tell whether it suits you, that’s a flag for reason 3.

If two or more of those ring true, your bill is almost certainly above where it should be, and most of it is fixable without touching your meter, your wiring or your supply.

What to do this week

1. Dig out your last full bill (one with the line-item breakdown, not just a payment reminder). Find your contract end date.
2. Circle the demand charge if there is one, and note your tariff code. Don’t worry if it’s gibberish, that’s my job.
3. Compare the kWh used to the same quarter last year so you know how much is usage versus rate.
4. Get it re-quoted across the market. Upload your bill on this page or email hello@smartaswitch.com.au. I’ll tell you, straight, which of these seven is hitting you, what it should cost, and whether switching is worth it. Comparison sheet back, usually same day. No cost, no commitment, because we’re paid by the energy retailer when you switch, never by you.

The bill being high isn’t the problem you can’t fix. Not knowing why is. Once you can see which lines are doing the damage, it’s almost always sortable, and often by a good chunk.

Joe Lawrence, Co-founder, Smarta Switch Australia 0435 642 592 · joe@smartaswitch.com.au