In short
It depends on how many people live at home, whether there is solar and electric hot water, and which plan the home is on. The table below prices every generally available plan in the Energex area on typical usage for each household size, so it shows the range a Brisbane home sits in rather than one average that fits nobody.
What a typical Brisbane home pays
On typical usage and a middle-of-the-road plan, as at 30 September 2026, a home of 1 person pays about $1,620 a year ($410 a quarter), a home of 2 people pays about $1,990 a year ($500 a quarter), a home of 3 people pays about $2,240 a year ($560 a quarter), a home of 4 people pays about $2,490 a year ($620 a quarter), and a home of 5 or more people pays about $2,840 a year ($710 a quarter). The best plan on the market is $350 to $580 a year below that, depending on the size of the home.
| People at home | Plans | Best plan | Middle plan | Dearest plan | Gap, best to middle | Middle plan, a quarter | Priced on, kWh a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | 917 | $1,270 | $1,620 | $4,800 | $350 | $410 | 3,300 |
| 2 people | 917 | $1,580 | $1,990 | $6,500 | $410 | $500 | 4,600 |
| 3 people | 917 | $1,790 | $2,240 | $7,680 | $450 | $560 | 5,500 |
| 4 people | 917 | $1,990 | $2,490 | $8,870 | $500 | $620 | 6,400 |
| 5 or more people | 917 | $2,260 | $2,840 | $10,440 | $580 | $710 | 7,600 |
Estimates of the market, not a recommendation or a quote. Typical usage is a benchmark for a home of that size in the Energex area with no solar (about 5,500 kWh a year for 3 people, our own working figure until the regulator's published benchmark is loaded), priced by the same engine as the paid check on the Australian Energy Regulator’s plan data. Your own usage, your tariff and any solar change the answer, and a home with solar panels usually imports much less than this.
Two things about those figures. They are yearly costs at each plan's current rates with no conditional discounts counted, which is the fair way to compare plans and also a little above what a household that always pays on time would see. And they are for a home with no solar: a home with panels usually imports much less from the grid, and its bill can be a fraction of these.
What moves your bill above or below the average
- Air-conditioning. In Brisbane it is the biggest single load in most detached homes through summer, and it lands in the evening when time-of-use plans charge the most.
- Electric storage hot water. A tank on Tariff 31 or 33 can be a quarter of a home's usage; on a controlled load it is priced at a lower rate, but only on a plan that publishes one. See Tariff 31 and 33 explained.
- A pool pump, which runs for hours every day and does not care when.
- Rooftop solar, which cuts imports during the day and earns a feed-in credit for the rest. See which retailer has the best feed-in tariff.
- The plan. On the same usage, the plans on the market are as far apart as the table above shows, best to dearest, which is the whole reason to compare.
How to find your own figure
Your bill has it: the kilowatt-hours for the period, and the average daily usage most bills print. Multiply the daily figure by 365 for a yearly total, and note the controlled-load and solar export figures separately, because every plan prices those separately. How to read your Queensland electricity bill walks through each line. Then price every plan on that usage rather than on a typical home: that is what the paid check does, and it is the only way to know whether your own plan sits near the top of the range or the bottom.
For the same figures in your own suburb, with what tends to decide bills there, see electricity plans by suburb.
Quick answers
What is the average quarterly electricity bill in Brisbane?
Roughly a quarter of the yearly figures in the table on this page: a middle-of-the-road plan priced on typical usage for a home of that size, divided by four. Summer and winter bills sit above that and the shoulder seasons below it, and a home with solar or a pool can be well outside the range either way.
How many kilowatt-hours does an average Brisbane home use a day?
It depends on how many people live there, whether hot water is electric and whether there is a pool, and a home with solar imports much less from the grid. The last column of the table on this page is the yearly usage each household size was priced on; divide it by 365 for a daily figure and compare that with the average daily usage your bill prints.
Is my electricity bill high for Brisbane?
Compare your yearly usage with the figure the table on this page prices for a home your size, and your yearly cost with the range. Usage above the benchmark means the home uses more than a typical one; a cost near the top of the range on ordinary usage means the plan is dear. Only a comparison on your own bill can tell the two apart, which is what the paid check does.
Sources
Official pages this answer relies on. If one of them changes, tell us and we will update the page.
- Energy Product Reference Data · Australian Energy Regulator
- Default market offer 2026–27 · Australian Energy Regulator
- Energy Made Easy · Australian Energy Regulator