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Time-of-use vs single rate: which is cheaper?

The honest answer is that it depends on when you use power — and only your own meter data can tell you which side you fall on.

What each one charges

A single-rate (flat-rate) plan charges the same amount for every kilowatt-hour, around the clock. The only variables are the usage rate and the daily supply charge.

A time-of-use (TOU) plan charges different rates by time of day: typically a dearer peak (weekday afternoons and evenings), a cheaper off-peak (overnight and often weekends), and sometimes a shoulder in between. The exact hours vary by distributor and plan.

There is a third thing that looks like a tariff type but is not: some plans price a window of the day at zero. A free window is an attribute a plan can carry whatever its structure — see free electricity hours in Victoria.

So which is cheaper?

Neither, universally. Time-of-use rewards households whose usage sits outside peak hours — overnight EV charging, late-evening appliances, homes with big solar that self-consume at midday. It punishes households whose usage clusters in the afternoon and early evening, which is most households without solar.

Two neighbours on identical TOU plans can get very different bills. The one who runs the dishwasher at 2pm pays peak rates for it; the one who delays it to after 11pm may pay half as much for the same energy. A flat rate makes both bills identical — and that is the whole problem with comparing plans on averages.

This is why comparison sites that price a “typical household” can rank the same TOU plan as both cheap and dear. The answer is a fact about your half-hourly usage, not about the plan.

What about my meter?

What your meter records shapes which plans suit it, but it is not a hard rule in either direction. A retailer’s pricing is separate from the network tariff on your meter, so a household on a single-rate meter can often take a time-of-use plan — some need no meter change at all. If a plan does need your meter reconfigured, your retailer can usually arrange it. Availability can still depend on your meter, so it is worth confirming with the retailer before you switch.

Which one should you be on?

Only your usage can tell. Nemity prices every plan in the official CDR feed against your own interval data — every half-hour of usage matched against every rate window — and ranks them by what they would actually cost you. Time-of-use, single-rate, and free-window plans all appear in the one ranking, priced for your household, not for a typical one.

It can also estimate what a time-of-use plan might cost if you shifted some usage — EV charging, the dishwasher, the dryer — into the cheap hours, before you change a single habit.

You will need your meter data file — here is how to get it (free, about five minutes the first time). Aim for a file that covers a year: Nemity can price each season separately, and the best plan for summer is not always the best for winter.

Upload your usage and start comparing plans →

Further reading