Ever looked at your water or electricity bill wondering ‘how is this normal?!

Get this: Sydney (58th), Melbourne (73rd), and Brisbane (89th) are amongst the top 100 most expensive cities in the world. Surprise surprise!

So you can bet that essential expenses like utilities have been pinching the budgets of almost all Australian households.

But if you’re looking to make tweaks to your budget to get utility bills under control, it helps to have some benchmarks first so you can decide which expenses have the most room for improvement.

We’ve done the hard work to calculate the average utility bills across states, and household sizes - so you don’t have to.

What’s the average electricity bill?

Electricity prices have been giving some Aussie households a rough time for months now.

In fact, median prices for household electricity have jumped 14% between September 2022 to September 2023.

And that has turned many of us into sticklers for turning off lights and heaters to save money.

Every household is different, but according to Finder’s 2024 research, below is the average quarterly electricity bill across different states.

Poor New South Wales!

Here’s what electricity bills look like across different generations:

You can see that baby boomers tend to have lower energy bills than the other age group. This could be for a few reasons:

• Senior and pensioner discounts 
• Less use of technological devices
• More likely to own a solar system

‍What about the average gas bill?

Nothing goes hand in hand quite like winter and a hectic gas bill. You know it’s inevitable. 

Here’s what gas bills look like for different household sizes in Australia.

And by generation:

Similar to electricity bills, gas bills tend to be lower for baby boomers.

And water bills?

The average quarterly water bill in Australia is $217, up from $208 in 2023. Here’s what that looks like across states:

And age groups:

My bills are much higher than the average - what do I do?

Every household situation is a little different, but there are still plenty of options when it comes to reducing utility bills.

At the end of the day, the more you use your essential services, the more they cost you.

So start by getting informed on what the key factors impacting your bills are, and which of those you can control.

It is also worthwhile checking in if your provider is giving you the best deal.

Compare electricity and gas retailers to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

And now, we know that one of the biggest financial burns is that pesky power bill, so we’ve compiled some tips and tricks specifically to save on your energy bill and get you started on the journey to acing your utility bills.