Off-peak electricity times in NSW: Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy
By Sithum Imarsha Last reviewed
On the Ausgrid default market offer, peak is 3pm to 9pm from November to March and June to August. Off-peak is 9pm to 3pm. Time of use is about $43 a year cheaper for a typical 4-person home: 20 kWh a day, with 33.2% of it in the peak. It stays cheaper while less than 35.7% of your use is 3pm to 9pm.
Your result
For your home
Time of use is about $43 a year cheaper
- Time of use, a year
- $2,983
- Flat, a year
- $3,026
- Peak share used
- 33.2% (typical home)
- Daily use
- 20kWh
The rates behind it
- Peak rate
- 48.11c/kWh, 3pm to 9pm
- Rest of the day, averaged
- 24.04c/kWh
- Flat rate
- 33.14c/kWh
- Supply charge, time of use vs flat
- 176.41c vs 166.23c a day
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Break-evenTime of use wins while less than 35.7% of your use is 3pm to 9pm.
ClockTimes follow the clock, including daylight saving.
SeasonNo peak in April, May, September and October.
Rates
Your planThese are the times on the Ausgrid default market offer. A market plan can use other times. Check your plan.
Your whole billEstimate your whole bill.
How we calculated this
- The peak rate is averaged over the year, because some days and months have no peak.
- The rest of the day is priced by the use of a typical home in each band.
- A year on the flat rate is compared with a year on time of use. Break-even is the peak share where they cost the same.
Full method, tables and sources: Peak and off-peak times calculator
The peak hours over a year
48.11c/kWh
The rest of the day
24.04c/kWh (Official source: AER DMO 8 final determination (26 May 2026), Appendix C s.6(2) pattern of supply, read via a Wayback Machine copy, PDF p.119; annual usage from Appendix C)
Flat for a year
(166.23c + 20 kWh × 33.14c/kWh) × 365 = $3,026
Time of use for a year
176.41c a day supply, peak share 33.2% (typical home): $2,983
Break-even
Time of use wins while less than 35.7% of your use is 3pm to 9pm.
This version starts with a 4-person home on Ausgrid. The tables below show Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy side by side.
NSW: what to know
Official source
- Ausgrid has no peak in April, May, September and October: every hour is 24.04c a kWh. In the other months the 3pm to 9pm peak applies every day, weekends included.
- Endeavour Energy peaks only 4pm to 8pm on working weekdays. Weekends and the 9 weekday NSW public holidays in 2026-27 have no peak. Its solar soak runs 10am to 2pm every day at 12.35c.
- Essential Energy has the longest NSW peak, 10 hours a day (7am to 10am and 3pm to 10pm). For a 4-person home, time of use only wins while less than about 60.4% of use is in it. Broken Hill runs on South Australian time.
| Band | Times | Days | Season | c/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | 3pm to 9pm | Every day | Nov to Mar and Jun to Aug | 60.2c |
| Off-peak | 9pm to 3pm | Every day | All year | 24.04c |
| Band | Times | Days | Season | c/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | 4pm to 8pm | Working weekdays | All year | 46.57c Nov to Mar, 47.14c Apr to Oct |
| Solar soak | 10am to 2pm | Every day | All year | 12.35c |
| Off-peak | 8pm to 10am and 2pm to 4pm | Every day | All year | 35.69c |
| Band | Times | Days | Season | c/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | 7am to 10am and 3pm to 10pm | Every day | All year | 42.12c |
| Off-peak | 10pm to 7am and 10am to 3pm | Every day | All year | 24.14c |
| Network | Household | kWh a day | Flat | Time of use | Cheaper | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ausgrid | 1 person | 8.5 | $1,635 | $1,638 | Flat by $3 | 32.8% |
| Ausgrid | 2 people | 14.3 | $2,336 | $2,316 | Time of use by $20 | 34.8% |
| Ausgrid | 3 people | 17.4 | $2,711 | $2,678 | Time of use by $33 | 35.4% |
| Ausgrid | 4 people | 20 | $3,026 | $2,983 | Time of use by $43 | 35.7% |
| Ausgrid | 5 or more people | 24.7 | $3,594 | $3,532 | Time of use by $62 | 36.1% |
| Endeavour Energy | 1 person | 8.5 | $1,722 | $1,717 | Time of use by $5 | 25.2% |
| Endeavour Energy | 2 people | 14.3 | $2,436 | $2,427 | Time of use by $9 | 25.2% |
| Endeavour Energy | 3 people | 17.4 | $2,818 | $2,807 | Time of use by $11 | 25.2% |
| Endeavour Energy | 4 people | 20 | $3,138 | $3,125 | Time of use by $13 | 25.2% |
| Endeavour Energy | 5 or more people | 24.7 | $3,716 | $3,701 | Time of use by $15 | 25.2% |
| Essential Energy | 1 person | 8.5 | $2,080 | $2,030 | Time of use by $50 | 60.4% |
| Essential Energy | 2 people | 14.3 | $2,821 | $2,737 | Time of use by $84 | 60.4% |
| Essential Energy | 3 people | 17.4 | $3,217 | $3,114 | Time of use by $103 | 60.4% |
| Essential Energy | 4 people | 20 | $3,549 | $3,431 | Time of use by $118 | 60.4% |
| Essential Energy | 5 or more people | 24.7 | $4,150 | $4,004 | Time of use by $146 | 60.4% |
- At default offer prices, with a typical share of use in the peak, time of use is cheaper in 14 of the 15 rows, by up to $146 a year for 5 or more people on Essential Energy. Flat is cheaper for 1 person on Ausgrid ($3 a year).
- Household size does not move the break-even on 2 of the 3 networks, because the flat and time of use default offers have the same supply charge on each of them. A typical home sits under the break-even on both: by 1.3 percentage points on Endeavour Energy and 8.9 on Essential Energy.
- On Ausgrid the time of use offer's supply charge is 10.18c a day higher than the flat offer's, $37 a year, so the break-even moves with the size of the home: from 32.8% of use in the peak for 1 person to 36.1% for 5 or more people. A typical home is at 33.2%.
- On the default time of use offers, a typical 4-person home that moves 10% of its use out of the peak and into the other hours saves $176 a year on Ausgrid, $95 on Endeavour Energy and $131 on Essential Energy.
Each row is a whole year at the AER benchmark daily use for Sydney at that household size (Official source, Estimate for Essential Energy), with a typical home's share of use in each band (Official source). Break-even: time of use is the cheaper plan while less than this share of the home's use is in the peak hours, with the rest split over the other bands as in a typical home. 2026-27 flat and time of use rates: Official source.
What else matters for time of use in NSW
Controlled load 1 (EA030) on Ausgrid
Controlled load 1 (EA030) on Ausgrid: 19.12c a kWh from 1 July 2026. Supply hours: at least 6 hours a day. Controlled load 2 on Ausgrid is 22.77c a kWh, with supply for at least 16 hours a day. Controlled load 1 is 20.44c a kWh on Endeavour Energy and 19.69c on Essential Energy. These three are also one retailer’s prices (Nectr). EA030 is Ausgrid’s network tariff code for controlled load 1.
Source: Nectr’s own standing offer price from 1 Jul 2026 (one retailer, not the regulated price), read on Nectr’s rate update page on 1 Oct 2026. The regulated cap for 2026-27 differs: 19.3094c for Ausgrid controlled load 1 and 23.0050c for controlled load 2 (AER DMO 2026-27 determination, s.9 table (5)) (Dated third-party source). Checked 1 October 2026.
On the default time of use offer, the off-peak band on Ausgrid (9pm to 3pm) costs 24.04c a kWh (Official source): 4.92c more than that controlled load rate. Each kWh a day of hot water heated in those hours on time of use, not on controlled load, costs $18 more a year at those two rates.
Every network and your own peak share: use the main peak and off-peak times calculator.