Help to pay your electricity bill at your principal place of residence is available to eligible South Australians on low or fixed incomes.
You could also receive:
- Energy Bill Relief rebate
- SA Concessions Energy Discount Offer if you already receive the energy concession
- An emergency electricity payment if you have an electricity debt and have had or are at risk of having your electricity disconnected.
People living in a residential park can apply for a combined concession for energy, water and sewerage - Residential Park Concessions
Apply or update your details
The online form covers four household concessions, including the energy concession.
Use it to apply or to update your details with ConcessionsSA - eg address, energy account, or bank details.
You'll need your:
- Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN) or Department of Veterans' Affairs file number
- most recent electricity bill, so you can provide your:
- retailer name
- account number
- National Metering Identifier (NMI) number
- billing dates.
- most recent water bill
- most recent Notice of Emergency Services Levy Assessment (homeowners only)
- bank details (BSB and account number).
Who can apply
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
Asylum seekers can also be eligible - how to apply for concessions as an asylum seeker
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.
What happens next
How your concession is paid depends on your living arrangements - how payments are made
Concession amount
Up to $281.78 a year.
The amount is indexed each financial year and is calculated as a flat rate per day. This means the amount of concession you see on your bills can vary, depending on the number of days in each billing period.
It covers energy payments, including fuels used to generate energy (eg LPG bottled gas and petrol).
How payments are made
- Home owners and private tenants: applied directly to your electricity bill as a credit.
- SA Housing Trust 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 credit applied directly to your electricity bill, if you receive a bill in your name from a retailer
- a quarterly payment into your bank account by EFT.
- If you don't get a bill from an energy retailer - eg you generate your own energy: paid quarterly into your bank account by electronic funds transfer (EFT).
Changing retailers
With your new energy retailer, your name must:
- be listed as an account holder on your electricity bill
- match your Centrelink or DVA card.
When you receive your first electricity bill from your new energy retailer, use the online household concessions form or phone 1800 307 758 to update your details.
Energy retailers in South Australia cannot transfer your concession, you must contact ConcessionsSA.
Changing address
If you move house, you must:
- update your address details with Centrelink or DVA
- wait until you have received your first electricity bill at your new address before contacting ConcessionsSA
- use the online household concessions form or phone 1800 307 758 to update your details with ConcessionsSA.
Contact ConcessionsSA
Email: concessions@sa.gov.au
Phone: 1800 307 758 - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday
