Your electricity price has a timetable

Separate the rate from the bill

A usage rate prices the energy you buy, usually in cents per kilowatt-hour (c/kWh). Your bill can also include a daily supply charge, demand charges, credits and other adjustments. Moving an activity to a different time does not change every part of that bill.

Start with the current terms for your own address and plan. Check the effective date and the units. Buying electricity and exporting solar can have different prices and different rules. A market-price headline is not enough to tell you what your household will pay or receive.

Read the timetable before choosing a time

A flat usage rate generally stays the same across the day. Time-of-use rates change between defined periods such as peak, shoulder and off-peak. The applicable hours can depend on the day and season; a cheap night-time period should never be assumed.

Your plan may also define a demand window or a free period. These rules need to be read together. The example below illustrates three things to check in one day; it is not a retailer offer and the displayed hours are not recommendations for your tariff.

Understand a demand window

Energy use and demand are related but different. Energy, measured in kWh, is how much you use over time. Demand, measured in kW, describes the rate of use. A demand charge may depend on your highest average demand during specified measurement intervals and charging windows. The exact calculation comes from your plan.

Running several large loads together can therefore matter as well as the total energy they use. A car charging while other household loads and a battery draw from the grid may create a larger peak. A plan can consider these overlapping loads, but a battery cannot guarantee that a demand charge will be avoided. Its available energy and power still matter.

Look beyond the word free

A free period may have conditions: eligible hours, an allowance, an allowance reset, or charges that still apply. Check what is included and what happens above the allowance. Do not assume every advertised free period means unlimited electricity or a zero total bill.

If an allowance applies to total household imports, appliances, EV charging and battery charging draw from the same allowance. Planning needs to account for the household first, what is already used and the limits of connected equipment. Unknown usage should not be treated as a fresh allowance.

Even when the usage rate is zero, there may be no benefit in charging beyond what you can use or store. Filling every available device at once is not automatically a useful plan.

Keep the calendar and clock aligned

A seasonal time-of-use plan can change its windows or rates during the year. Weekday, weekend and public-holiday rules may differ too. The tariff timetable needs the relevant date as well as the time of day.

Local time and daylight-saving rules also matter. Use the timezone for the energy site and the retailer’s stated time convention. Do not assume a phone displaying another timezone or an old screenshot shows the currently applicable tariff window.

Bring the confirmed rules into the plan

VPPiQ Home combines supported tariff information with expected solar, household demand, battery preferences and EV goals. Free-period planning and demand-aware decisions remain subject to the offer’s exact terms and the controls available on your equipment.

Keep your confirmed tariff current and review outcomes against your usage and bill. The aim is an understandable plan that accounts for complexity; it is not a guarantee that any particular electricity offer will be cheapest for you.