Network tariff reviews: The annual review that can save your business thousands

Every year on 1 July, something significant happens to every commercial and industrial electricity bill in Australia. Network tariff rates reset.

Distribution networks such as Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy, Energex, Ergon, AusNet, Powercor, CitiPower, United Energy, SA Power Networks, TasNetworks, Jemena, and Evoenergy publish updated tariff schedules annually under AER-approved pricing frameworks. Some components go up. Some go down. Tariff structures are occasionally restructured entirely, with networks progressively shifting more charges toward demand and cost-reflective structures and away from flat volume-based charges.

For most businesses, that reset shows up on the invoice weeks later as an unexplained change in the bill. By then, the opportunity to review the site's position has already passed for another year.

A Network Tariff Review (NTR) is how businesses get ahead of that moment rather than behind it.

What network charges are and why they deserve their own review

On a commercial and industrial energy bill, every cost component appears as a separate line item on the invoice. The retail energy charge is contracted and negotiated directly with a retailer. Network charges, environmental scheme costs and metering fees are all itemised separately, and each moves independently. That means a business can renew its contracted energy rate and still see its total bill change, because the other components are not fixed by the retailer.

What many businesses do not realise is that the network tariff structure assigned to their site can be reviewed. An NTR asks a specific question: given this site's consumption profile, its network zone, and its current classification, is it on the right network tariff for its needs today? Or has something shifted since it was last assessed?

Businesses grow. Load profiles evolve. Solar is installed. Production changes. A network tariff that was the right fit three years ago may no longer match the site. Reviewing it regularly is how businesses ensure they are not paying a tariff designed for a version of their operation that no longer exists.

What the data shows

Based on Zembl's NTR work across Australian commercial and industrial customers, 62% of reviewed sites are already on the right tariff. But in 24% of cases, a better option exists. From March to September 2025, Zembl identified $648,000^ in potential savings across 148 commercial & industrial sites reviewed, an average of $4,379^ per site per annum.

That is not an edge case. It is a material and recurring opportunity for businesses that put the review on the calendar.

_{^Based on Zembl's Australian commercial and industrial customers. Represents annual potential energy savings through Zembl's Network Tariff Review service from 1 March 2025 to 30 September 2025, including GST. Savings vary based on individual site usage, network tariff structure, and distributor pricing.}

When to do an NTR

Zembl conducts Network Tariff Reviews annually, timed to the contract anniversary. This ensures there is enough time for any evolution in business operations to be reflected in the data, and sufficient lead time to prepare and lodge a reclassification request with the network if one is warranted.

It is also worth noting that a network tariff can only be changed once in any twelve-month period, and any change is subject to network approval. Timing the review properly and building a strong case matters.

How Zembl approaches it

For our commercial energy procurement customers, Zembl runs a structured Network Tariff Review as part of the annual cycle. We analyse the site's interval data against the available network tariff structures, test alternative classifications, and identify whether the site should be making a formal tariff reassignment request to the network.

Where the site is best placed to stay on its current tariff, we say so. Where a change is justified, we prepare the case, coordinate it with the network, and manage the process through to outcome. Either way, the customer enters the new tariff year with a decision made on evidence, not by default.

Network charges will keep moving. The businesses that manage them well are the ones that put the review on the calendar and keep it there.

Get in touch with a Zembl Energy Expert today.