As Australia’s second largest city, it is not surprising that Melbourne is the country’s second highest user of electricity.
Victoria contains six coal fired power stations, including Loy Yang, Hazelwood and Yallourn, as well as over a dozen smaller stations producing electricity from wind, natural gas, hydro and even sewage gas.

Several of these stations provide seasonal ‘back-up’ supplies, operating only in times of extreme usage or interrupted supply from a major plant. This electricity to sent around the state and distributed by a variety of cheap electricity retailers, including Origin Energy AGL and TruEnergy.

Melbourne’s electricity supply was managed by the government-run State Electricity Commission (SEC) until 1994, when then Premier Jeff Kennett divided the organization into multiple commercial entities.

Electricity use in Melbourne is broken down similarly to most other large cities. On a domestic level, 40% of electricity is used on heating and cooling, with an additional 20% on water heating. Refrigeration (8.9%, cooking (7.8%), major appliances (6.2%) and lighting (4.1%) make up the rest of the list.

Green energy is becoming increasingly popular in Melbourne, with most major retailers offering a variety of green packages. For a small additional monthly fee, households can elect to have varying percentages of their power sourced from environmentally sustainable sources, such as wind and hydro.

There are many electricity providers in Melbourne to choose from, to name just a few there is: APG, AGL, Click Energy, Country Energy.