Your bill went up after the smart meter. Here is what actually changed.

A meter does not charge you anything. It counts. Swapping one box on the wall for another does not make electricity more expensive, and if your bill jumped after an installer visited, something else moved at the same time. Nine times out of ten it is the tariff you are billed on, and that is a separate decision your retailer made, not a property of the meter. This page is the ten minute check that tells you which of five things happened, and what you can do about each.

Last checked: 14 August 2026Sources: AER consumer guidance, National Energy Retail RulesNext review: January 2027

The one sentence version. The meter measures, the tariff prices. If your bill rose, compare the tariff name on the bill before the swap with the one after. If it changed, that is your answer and the rest of this page is about what to do. If it did not, skip to the four other reasons a bill rises.

The ten minute bill check

You need two bills: one from before the meter was changed, one from after. Paper or PDF, either is fine. Work through these in order and stop when you find a difference.

Find the tariff name on each bill. It is in the charges section, usually the line above the usage figures. Something like "Residential flat", "Residential time of use", or a plan name followed by a tariff type. Write both down.
Count the usage lines. One usage line charged at a single rate is a flat tariff. Two or more lines labelled peak, off peak, shoulder or solar soak at different rates means you are on time of use. This is the fastest tell and it does not depend on knowing the jargon.
Look for a demand line. A charge measured in kW rather than kWh is a demand charge. It is set by your single highest half hour, not by how much you used, so it behaves very differently from usage.
Check the daily supply charge on both. This is the fixed daily amount before you use anything. It can differ between tariff types on the same network, so a tariff change can raise your bill even if your usage is identical.
Compare the number of days billed. A 95 day bill against a 61 day bill is not a price rise, it is a longer period. Divide the total by the days on each to compare fairly.
Check whether the old bill says "estimated". If your previous reads were estimates and the smart meter produced the first real read in a while, the new bill may be correcting an under-estimate. That is a catch up, not an increase.

If step 1 or step 2 shows a change, your tariff structure moved. That is the common case and it is what the rest of this page addresses.

The thing almost nobody explains: two different tariffs

There are two tariffs in play and only one of them sets your bill. Conflating them is the single biggest source of confusion in this whole topic, including in advice you will read elsewhere.

	Network tariff	Retail tariff
Who sets it	Your distributor (Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential)	Your retailer, the company that bills you
Who pays it	Your retailer pays the network	You
On a meter change	Often defaults to time of use or solar soak	Only changes if your retailer changes it
Shown on your bill	Sometimes, as a code near your NMI	Yes, this is the one that matters

So "the network moved me to time of use" and "my bill went up" are not the same statement. The network tariff moving is normal and by itself changes nothing for you. What changes your bill is your retail tariff moving, and that is a decision with rules attached.

Your consent right, and its four honest limits

If your retailer replaced your meter on or after 1 December 2025, it cannot move you off a flat rate onto a time of use or demand tariff for two years without your explicit informed consent. That protection applies in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, and only for as long as you stay with the retailer that installed the meter.

After two years your retailer can change your tariff structure without your consent, but it must give you at least 30 business days' notice and show what your last 12 months would have cost under the new structure. If your meter was swapped before 1 December 2025, or you have since switched retailers, this protection may not apply to you.

The part that will apply to many readers of this page. Retailers were replacing meters for years before December 2025. If yours went in earlier, and your bill has already jumped, you most likely have no consent right over that change at all, only the ordinary notice rules. That is an uncomfortable answer and we would rather give it to you than imply you have a lever you do not have. It does not stop you asking your retailer what other tariffs they offer you, and it does not stop you switching.

Four other reasons a bill rises, none of them the meter

The 1 July reset. Electricity prices are reset annually on 1 July. If your meter changed anywhere near then, the two events are easy to confuse and the reset is often the larger effect.
The season turned. A bill covering June to August in a cold house is not comparable to one covering March to May. Compare the same quarter last year, not the previous quarter.
Estimates ended. If your old reads were estimated and the estimate ran low, the first accurate read collects the difference. Painful, but it is money you already owed.
The billing period was longer. Check the days on each bill and compare cost per day, not total.

What to do next, in order

Ring your retailer and ask two specific questions. What tariff am I on now, and what was I on before the meter change. Ask them to confirm in writing. Vague answers are worth pushing back on.
If the tariff changed, ask what consent they hold. If your meter went in on or after 1 December 2025 and you are still with the installing retailer, they need your explicit informed consent for a structure change. Ask them to show it.
Ask what else they can offer you. Retailers usually have more than one plan. Asking which tariff types are available to you on your network costs nothing.
Work out whether the new tariff is actually worse for you. This is the step people skip, and it matters, because sometimes the answer is that the new tariff is fine or better. Our time of use calculator does this against your own network's windows.
If you are not satisfied, escalate. The Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW handles retailer disputes free of charge. Retailers respond differently once the ombudsman is mentioned, and you lose nothing by using it.

Before you assume time of use is the villain

It is worth saying plainly, because this page could otherwise leave the wrong impression: a time of use tariff is not automatically worse. Which way it goes depends on your network and on how much of your usage lands in the peak window. On Essential Energy most households are better off on time of use without changing a thing. On Ausgrid it depends heavily on your evenings. On Endeavour the arithmetic is genuinely strange and the usual advice about running things overnight does not apply.

The time of use tariff page puts all three networks side by side. The point of checking is that you may be arguing to get back onto a tariff that was costing you more.

Questions people ask

Does a smart meter make your bill higher?

No, a meter does not set prices, it measures. Three things change a bill after a swap: a tariff structure change from flat to time of use, the end of estimated reads so you are billed for what you actually used, and the annual 1 July price reset. The meter itself charges nothing.

How do I check if my tariff changed after the meter swap?

It takes about 10 minutes and two bills. Put the bill from before the swap beside the one after, and compare the tariff name and the usage lines. One usage line at a single rate is a flat tariff. Separate peak and off peak lines mean you are on time of use.

Can my retailer change my tariff after installing a smart meter?

Not for two years, if the meter went in on or after 1 December 2025. The retailer that installed it cannot move you from a flat rate to time of use or demand without your explicit informed consent. That covers NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, and only while you stay with that retailer.

My meter was swapped before December 2025. Do I have the same protection?

Probably not, and this is the one honest answer most pages avoid. The two year consent rule applies to tariff changes from 1 December 2025 onward. Retailers were swapping meters well before that, so a large share of people whose bills already jumped have no consent right at all, only the standard notice rules.

What is the difference between a network tariff and a retail tariff?

Two different things, and only one sets your bill. The network tariff is what your distributor charges your retailer, and it does often default to time of use on a meter change. The retail tariff is what you are billed on. Your bill shows the retail one, so compare that name across the swap.

Why did my bill go up if my tariff did not change?

Four common reasons have nothing to do with the meter. Prices reset every 1 July. The season changed and heating or cooling ran harder. Your old bills were estimates and the first real read corrected them. Or the billing period covered more days than the one before it.

What should I do if I did not agree to a tariff change?

Ring your retailer first and ask two questions: what tariff am I on now, and what was I on before. Ask them to show the consent they hold. If the answer does not stack up, the Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW handles disputes free of charge, and retailers know it.

Is time of use always worse than a flat rate?

No, and on one NSW network it is usually better. It depends on how much of your usage lands in the peak window and which distributor you are on. On Essential Energy most households are better off on time of use without changing anything. On Endeavour the maths is different again.

Who wrote this

Angus Lewington: Founder of Alien IT Solutions (ABN 32 385 519 280), which runs Smart Home Fix. Day to day that means Home Assistant rescues, smart home repair and getting household data into something a person can actually read. More at anguslewington.com.au.
Why we write about bills: Because a smart meter is the first time most households get their own interval data, and turning that into an answer is the work we do. We are not a retailer, we do not sell you electricity, we take no commission on plan switching, and we get nothing from you moving tariffs either way.
How this page is maintained: Rules and dates checked against AER consumer guidance and the National Energy Retail Rules on 14 August 2026, and reviewed again each January and July. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

The reason this is hard is that you are arguing about your own electricity use without being able to see it. Your smart meter has recorded every half hour since it went in. We set up a home energy dashboard that shows that data against the times your plan charges different rates, gives you a straight before and after verdict on the tariff change, and automates the shifting that is actually worth doing. See how the dashboard setup works.