The Western Australian Government announced the $400 Small Business Electricity Credit on 9 May 2024.

On 14 May 2024, the Commonwealth Government announced $325 of additional energy bill relief funding for small businesses through the Energy Bill Relief Fund Extension.

Funded by both the Commonwealth and Western Australian State Governments, the purpose of the 2024 Offset is to assist eligible small business and charity electricity customers with the rising cost of living. The offset is to be applied as a one-off, non-refundable account offset to eligible small business and charity accounts.

The value of the 2024 Offset is $725 (GST Free) and will be payable over two instalments of $362.50 with the first payment being applied to eligible customer accounts on 20 July 2024 and the second payment being applied on 7 December 2024. 

The WA Small Business Electricity Credit (2024 Offset) and the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief (2024 Offset) will be applied as an offset payment to eligible small business or charity account customer accounts that are supplied electricity by Synergy under an eligible supply contract as of 17 June 2024 for the first offset on 20 July 2024 and 18 November 2024 for the second offset on 7 December 2024.

Customers will not need to apply for these offset payments, as we will automatically identify eligible small business and charity customer accounts.
Eligible small business products include:

• L1
• R1
• C1
• D1
• K1 

Even if the Eligibility Criteria is met, each of the following accounts are not Eligible Accounts (Excluded Accounts):

1. an account held by a local government authority, council or entity created pursuant to the Local Government Act 1995 (WA); or
2. an account held by a Western Australian or Commonwealth Government statutory authority, trading enterprise, department, or agency; or
3. an account held by a telecommunication company that is, for example part of the corporate group of, Telstra, Vodafone, Optus or the National Broadband Network; or
4. an account held by an authorised deposit taking institution where the entity is, for example part of the corporate group of, Westpac, Australian and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank or National Australia Bank; or
5. an account held by a major mining or resources operator, that is, for example part of the corporate group of, BHP, Rio Tinto, FMG, Chevron and Woodside; or
6. an account for temporary electricity supply for the purposes of constructing premises; or
7. an account where consumption at the premises was more than 50MWh in the 12 months prior to 9 May 2024; or
8. an account where Synergy reasonably expects consumption for the account to be greater than 50MWh over a 12-month period.

To be eligible for the first payment, business customers must have an eligible account as of 17 June 2024.

If you open an eligible account after 17 June 2024 but before 18 November 2024, you will only be eligible for the second payment that will be made in December 2024.

No. The credit offset payments cannot be transferred or refunded to a financial institution account.

If you’re moving supply address within WA and are being billed by Synergy or Horizon Power, you can transfer any remaining credit offset balance on your existing account to your new account. This will be applied to future bills at the new supply address. 

If you close your eligible Synergy account and the offset has not been fully applied, any remaining balance will be returned to the WA State Government and not refunded.

No. The first instalment of $362.50 will be automatically added to eligible Synergy accounts from 20 July 2024 and the second instalment will be made on 7 December 2024. You do not need to apply for the payment.

Information on eligibility and payment criteria for small businesses that are not directly supplied by Synergy will be provided by The Small Business Development Corporation in due course. For more information contact grants@smallbusiness.wa.gov.au

No. Your account must have been open from 17 June 2024 to 20 July 2024 to receive the first credit offset payment, and 18 November 2024 to 7 December 2024 to receive the second credit offset payment (qualifying dates).

If you have already closed your account and are looking to re-open it, we encourage you to contact us so we can assess your circumstances to see what assistance we can provide.