Energy bill concessions

You must:

• live at the property
• have an energy account in your name and be listed first on your energy bill
• hold an eligible concession card or receive an eligible Centrelink payment
• not be living with anyone who has an income of more than $3,000 per year, unless they either:
  • get an allowance from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA)
  • are your spouse, domestic partner or dependent.

Eligible cards

• Pensioner Concession Card
• Veteran Gold Card:
  • Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI)
  • Extreme Disablement Adjustment (EDA)
  • War Widow
  • issued to a person with 80 or more overall impairment points under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
• Low Income Health Care Card
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

Eligible Centrelink payments

• JobSeeker Payment
• Youth Allowance
• Parenting Payment
• Special Benefit
• Community Development Program (CDP)
• Self-Employment Allowance
• ABSTUDY
• Austudy
• Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
• War widow pension under legislation of the United Kingdom or New Zealand.

If you are a verified asylum seeker and your principal place of residence is in South Australia, you can apply for an energy concession through your Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) if you:

• are receiving case management and/or support from an organisation contracted by the Department of Home Affairs to provide services under the SRSS program
• meet low income requirements
• hold an energy account in your name for your principal place of residence
• are not living with anyone who earns more than $3,000 per year.

How to apply

Contact your SRSS provider to apply.

Up to $263.15 a year for 2023-24.

The concession is calculated as a flat rate per day and is indexed each financial year. It covers energy payments, including fuels used to generate energy (eg LPG bottled gas and petrol).

• Home owners and private tenants:  applied directly to your electricity bill as a credit.
• Housing SA tenants:  applied directly to your utility bill as a credit.
• Residential park residents: paid quarterly into your bank account by electronic funds transfer (EFT) as a combined payment for household concessions.
• Retirement village residents: depending on the arrangements you have with your retirement village operator, your concession will either be:
  • a quarterly payment into your bank account by EFT.
  • a credit applied directly to your electricity bill, if you receive a bill in your name from a retailer.
• If you don't get a bill from an energy retailer (eg you generate your own energy):  paid directly into your bank account.

With your new energy retailer, your name must:

• be listed as an account holder on your electricity bill
• match your Centrelink or DVA card.

Use the online household concessions form or phone the ConcessionsSA Hotline on 1800 307 758 to update your details, once you have received your first electricity bill from your new energy retailer.

Note: energy retailers in South Australia cannot transfer your concession, you must contact ConcessionsSA.

If you move house, you must:

1. update your address details with Centrelink or DVA
2. wait until you have received your first electricity bill at your new address before contacting ConcessionsSA
3. use the online household concessions form or phone the ConcessionsSA Hotline on 1800 307 758 to update your details with ConcessionsSA.

Contact

Email: concessions@sa.gov.au

Phone: ConcessionsSA Hotline (9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday) - 1800 307 758

Translations: to arrange an onsite or telephone interpreter, or to have a document translated, please call the Interpreting and Translating Centre (ITC) on 1800 280 203.