Domestic Tariffs

A domestic customer is defined in the Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998, section 90. 

To summarise, domestic premises are:

Premises that are used or intended for occupation by any person principally as a place of residence; but does not include:

  • Any prison that is a Corrections prison or a police jail
  • Hospital, home or institution for sick, disabled or aged
  • Police cells, barracks or lock ups
  • Barracks for armed forces
  • Hostels, dorm, accommodation premises
  • Clubs with temporary transient accommodation
  • Hotels, motels, boarding-house or lodging-house
  • Camping-ground, motor camp or marina.

A domestic residence is additionally defined as property that is the principal place of residence and displays a load profile characteristic of a typical domestic residence within the Horizon Energy supply area. This means that a holiday home or other property that may have a distorted profile due to intermittent use may not qualify for the low fixed charge tariff.

New domestic installations are only offered as a 1 phase 60-ampere connection with controlled hot water heating that will display the profile as indicated.

If a residential property is to be connected with 2 or 3 phase supply due to technical or load needs then as long as the criteria of the Low Fixed Charge Tariff option are met it may be connected at this tariff. If the installation is felt to not comply with the criteria of the tariff then connection will be made within the General Tariff codes prefixed with ‘N’.

Existing installations that are on the Domestic Tariff (15 cents per day) and do not meet the criteria will be progressively moved to other price options.

In many cases the installation of a 2 or 3 phase supply is the best technical solution and you are encouraged to give this due consideration in your application for a service connection.

Tariff Code Supply Characteristic
DU or DR

1 phase 60 Ampere. (2 or 3 phase on application)

Primary place of residence with full time occupancy.

Controlled water heating.

A load profile that indicates an electrical characteristic similar to that displayed by a full time residency property.

No inclusion of other non-domestic loads such as a home business operation.

Note that the U or R indicates a pricing differential between properties that are defined as Urban or Rural. This differential is designed to reflect the density of individual 11 kV feeders and may not reflect the density of properties in any immediate location.