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Free help with your energy bills

The Energy Assistance Program is a free Victorian Government service. It can help you save money on your energy bills by checking you’re not paying more than you need to and sorting out any issues you may have.

How the program can help

The Energy Assistance Program can help you:

  • make sure you’re on the best energy plan for your household
  • check if you’re getting concessions you’re entitled to
  • help you access payment difficulty assistance, such as payment plans or debt relief
  • work with you and your energy retailer to get things sorted

If you’re not sure what help you need, you can contact the Energy Assistance Program and the team will let you know what they can do to help.

What happens when you contact the program

When you contact the Energy Assistance Program:

  • you’ll speak to a real, experienced person
  • they will ask you a few simple questions about your situation
  • if you have a recent energy bill, they can look at it with you and check that everything is correct
  • if they find ways to reduce your costs or identify support you can access, they’ll help you call your energy retailer to get it sorted

Why people use this service

People contact the Energy Assistance Program for many reasons, including when they:

  • feel their bill is higher than expected
  • notice something doesn’t look right
  • want to check everything is in order
  • would prefer help talking to their energy retailer
  • having difficulty paying their energy bills

Even if you're unsure, it's worth getting in touch. Many people contact the program simply to check their bill or better understand their options. If everything looks correct, the team will let you know.

A real life example of how the Energy Assistance Program works

After receiving a higher-than-usual energy bill, a customer contacted the Energy Assistance Program because they weren't sure why their costs had increased.

With support from the EAP team:

  • a concession that had stopped being applied was identified and reinstated
  • a more suitable energy plan was found
  • support was identified that the customer didn't know was available
  • his energy retailer was contacted to help get everything sorted

Together, these changes helped the customer save hundreds of dollars a year and made energy bills easier to manage.

"They checked my bill, picked up things I hadn't noticed and helped sort it with the energy company. It was much easier than I expected."

Contact the Energy Assistance Program

Phone: 1800 161 215
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm (except public holidays)

The Energy Assistance Program is a free service funded by the Victorian Government and delivered in partnership with:

  • Anglicare Victoria - delivering phone-based support
  • cohealth - supporting outreach services at Melbourne’s public housing high-rise estates

Through the Energy Assistance Program, these organisations are helping Victorians access trusted energy advice and support.

Page last updated: 22/07/26