23 October 2026, 8 mins
True wholesale (spot-price) electricity plans in Australia can offer lower prices when electricity is cheap, but they can also expose households to higher costs when prices rise.
Whether a true wholesale plan is right for your home depends on how its pricing works, when you use electricity and how much risk you are comfortable taking on.
This guide explains how wholesale electricity pricing works, how it differs from wholesale linked plans and other types of electricity plans, and what to consider before choosing one. We also look at how solar panels, home batteries and flexible energy use can affect your electricity costs.
Wholesale electricity is the price retailers pay for electricity in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
The wholesale price changes throughout the day as supply and demand change. Prices can be very low when there is plenty of electricity available, including periods of strong solar generation. They can also rise when demand is high and supply is tighter.
A true wholesale (spot-price) electricity plan passes these wholesale market movements through to the customer. Your electricity bill can still include other costs such as network charges, retailer charges and GST, depending on how the plan is structured.
This is different from a traditional fixed-rate electricity plan, where the retailer sets a usage rate that generally stays the same for the period covered by your energy price factsheet.
Wholesale (spot-price) plan: The wholesale electricity price is passed through to you, along with other applicable charges. Your electricity cost can change sharply as the market price rises and falls.
Wholesale-linked plan: Your price is influenced by wholesale market conditions, but you are not charged the live spot price directly. How this works depends on the retailer and plan.
In this article, wholesale plan means a true spot-price or wholesale pass-through plan. Wholesale-linked plan refers to a plan that uses wholesale market signals without directly passing through the live spot price.
The basic idea is simple: the price of electricity changes, and when you use it matters.
If you can use more electricity when wholesale prices are low, you may be able to reduce the cost of running energy-hungry appliances. But if you use a lot of electricity when wholesale prices are high, your costs can increase.
Solar generation is highest around the middle of the day, which can create periods of abundant electricity supply.
When there is more electricity available than the market needs, wholesale prices can fall significantly and can sometimes become negative.
For a household with flexible energy use, this can create an opportunity to run high-energy appliances when electricity is cheaper.
Think:
The more of these activities you can move into lower-price periods, the more opportunity you have to benefit from a wholesale-linked plan.
The main risk of a true wholesale plan is price volatility.
Electricity prices can rise when demand is high, particularly during morning and evening peaks. For many households, the evening is when people return home, cook dinner, use heating or cooling and turn on multiple appliances at once.
A true wholesale plan can expose you to those price movements.
This is why understanding when your household uses electricity is just as important as looking at the headline electricity rate.
The main difference is how much the price you pay changes with the wholesale electricity market.
With a true wholesale (spot-price) plan, the wholesale price is passed through to you. With a fixed-rate plan, your usage rate is generally set for the period covered by your plan’s energy price factsheet.
Both types of plans can have additional charges, conditions and different solar feed-in tariffs. Check the full plan details before comparing prices.
A plan’s value depends on more than its advertised usage rate. Consider your total electricity costs, including supply charges, usage rates and any applicable solar feed-in tariff.
No. You can have a true wholesale plan without solar panels or a home battery. However, your ability to change when you use electricity can affect how much you benefit from lower prices.
Solar panels can reduce the amount of electricity you need to buy when your home uses the power they generate. Any extra electricity you export may earn a feed-in tariff, depending on your plan.
A home battery can store electricity for later use. You could charge it using surplus solar power or, where your plan and battery settings allow, electricity bought at a lower price. You can then use the stored energy when buying electricity would cost more.
However, battery savings are not guaranteed. You need to consider the price of charging, the value of any solar electricity you could otherwise export, battery efficiency losses and the cost of the battery itself.
Solar panels and batteries can give you more options for managing your electricity costs, but their value depends on your household’s energy use and the terms of your plan.
A true wholesale electricity plan may suit your household if you can change when you use electricity.
You may have more flexibility if you:
You may want to think more carefully about a true wholesale plan if most of your electricity use happens at fixed times, particularly during evening peaks, and you have limited ability to change when you use energy.
You don’t need to change your whole routine to manage your electricity costs. Start by looking at when your home uses the most electricity, how much solar power you use yourself and whether a battery makes financial sense.
If your plan rewards electricity use at lower-price times, scheduling flexible appliances can help you make the most of those periods.
If your electric vehicle is at home during the day, schedule charging for a lower-price period where possible.
If your pool pump does not need to run at a set time, use its timer to shift operation to a more suitable period.
If your hot water system allows it, schedule heating for a time that suits your plan’s pricing.
Dishwashers, washing machines and dryers can often run at a different time. Check your plan’s pricing and choose a suitable period.
If your heating or cooling system allows it, preparing your home before a higher-price period may reduce the need to run it during that time.
If you have solar panels, using your own solar electricity can reduce the amount you need to buy. For example, you could run appliances while your panels are generating electricity.
However, using solar power at home means you may export less electricity. Consider your plan’s solar feed-in tariff as well as the price you would otherwise pay to buy electricity. The better option depends on the difference between those prices and when you need the power.
A battery can store electricity for later use, but charging it is not automatically cheaper.
If you charge from the grid, compare the cost of buying electricity with the potential cost of buying it later. Allow for battery efficiency losses and any other applicable charges.
If you charge using solar power, consider the feed-in tariff you would give up by storing that electricity instead of exporting it.
The financial benefit depends on your plan’s usage rates, export rates, charging settings and household energy use. A battery’s upfront cost also matters when deciding whether it will pay for itself.
Imagine a household uses 10 kWh of electricity during a particular period.
If its usage rate is 30 cents per kWh, the electricity used during that period costs $3.00.
If the applicable rate were 10 cents per kWh, the same 10 kWh would cost $1.00.
That’s a difference of $2.00 for that period, before supply charges and any other applicable costs.
With a fixed-rate plan, the usage rate is generally set for the period specified in the plan’s energy price factsheet. With a true wholesale plan, the price can change with the market, so the cost of using the same amount of electricity may be different at another time.
This is an illustrative example, not a quote or a prediction of savings. Actual electricity costs depend on the plan, applicable charges, when electricity is used and the amount consumed.
When comparing electricity plans, look beyond the usage rate. Check the daily supply charge, any additional fees, solar feed-in tariffs, the conditions that apply to changing prices and the terms for leaving the plan.
Read the plan’s energy price factsheet and terms and conditions to understand how charges are calculated and what happens when market prices change. If you are comparing annual costs, use your own usage data and the rates that apply to each plan. An advertised rate alone cannot tell you which plan will cost less over a year.
Flow Power’s residential plan is wholesale-linked, not a true wholesale or spot-price plan. You are not charged the live wholesale price shown in the Flow Power app.
How the PEA works: Your plan starts with a set usage rate. Each month, the Price Efficiency Adjustment (PEA) adjusts that rate up or down based on when you used electricity relative to wholesale prices.
Learn how the Price Efficiency Adjustment worksExplore Flow Home
Compare Flow Power residential pricing
Not necessarily.
A true wholesale electricity plan can give you more opportunity to benefit from low wholesale prices, but it can also expose you to higher prices when wholesale electricity becomes more expensive.
Whether it works out cheaper depends on the plan and your household’s energy use.
No.
You can benefit from a true wholesale plan without solar or a battery if you can shift some of your electricity use into lower-price periods.
Solar and batteries can give you more flexibility, particularly if you can store energy and use it later.
If you are on a true spot-price or wholesale pass-through plan, higher wholesale prices can increase the price you pay for electricity during those periods.
The impact depends on the structure of your plan and how much electricity you use when prices are high.
It can give you more control over when you use electricity from the grid.
A battery can store energy during lower-price periods and make that energy available later, reducing your need to buy electricity during higher-price periods.
No.
It is wholesale-linked, but it is not a spot-price or wholesale pass-through plan. The wholesale price shown in the Flow Power app is used to help calculate the Price Efficiency Adjustment. It is not the rate you are directly charged.