TL;DR: Mid-range. Origin's base usage rates sit between the cheapest challengers and the most expensive majors, and for a solar household the usage rate is not what decides the bill anyway. The daily supply charge and your import volume matter more. Compare total annual cost, not the per-kilowatt-hour headline.
Where do Origin's usage rates sit in the market?
In the middle, consistently.
For grid-imported electricity, Origin's rates typically run between 25 and 35 cents per kilowatt-hour depending on state and distribution network. A Sydney household on a variable plan might see around 29c/kWh; a Melbourne household in the Powercor area closer to 32c/kWh.
Those move quarterly or annually with wholesale costs. Origin is rarely the cheapest available and rarely the most expensive, and the competitive position usually comes from bundling or conditional discounts rather than the base tariff.
For a solar household the more useful observation is that the usage rate matters in proportion to how much you import. A house importing very little is barely affected by a two-cent difference in the usage rate, and heavily affected by a twenty-cent difference in the daily supply charge.
What time-of-use does to the picture
Most Origin plans now use time-of-use pricing, splitting the day into peak, shoulder and off-peak.
Peak typically runs 2pm to 8pm on weekdays and can reach 50c/kWh in NSW. Off-peak, overnight and often at weekends, can fall below 20c/kWh. Shoulder sits between.
The peak window is the number to check, more than the peak rate. A window opening at 2pm catches an afternoon household while its solar output is already falling; one opening at 5pm does not. That difference costs more than a few cents on the rate.
Controlled load, for hot water or a pool pump on a separate circuit, is cheaper again at around 20c/kWh or below. If your hot water is on controlled load, leave it there.
Do Origin's solar plans offer better value?
Sometimes, and the trade-off is usually visible if you look for it.
Origin's standard feed-in rate in New South Wales runs around 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Enhanced offers appear periodically, sometimes reaching 10 to 12 cents, typically capped at a daily export volume or tied to a specific plan.
Those enhanced rates come with something attached: a higher daily supply charge, a higher import rate, or a cap low enough that the good rate applies to a fraction of what you actually export. None of that is hidden, and none of it is prominent either.
A household exporting 15 kWh a day should check the cap first. If the enhanced rate applies to the first 10 kWh and the rest reverts to a low rate, the headline figure is describing two thirds of your export at best.
Balancing feed-in against import rates
Work the arithmetic on your own volumes rather than comparing headline numbers.
A plan paying 10c/kWh feed-in while charging 35c/kWh to import is worse than one paying 6c/kWh and charging 28c/kWh, for any household buying 40% of its power from the grid. Which describes most solar homes.
The rule is straightforward: the more you import relative to what you export, the more the import rate dominates and the less the feed-in rate matters. Only a household exporting a large surplus with minimal imports should be choosing on feed-in rate.
Pull your last four bills and note total imported kWh and total exported kWh. Those two numbers tell you which side of that line you are on.
How much do supply charges and network area change the answer?
More than most comparisons acknowledge.
Daily supply charges run from around 90 cents to over $1.50 a day depending on state and distribution network. Over a quarter that is $81 to $135 charged before you consume anything, and solar does nothing to reduce it.
For a household that has driven its imports right down, the supply charge can be the largest single line on the bill. That inverts the usual advice: such a household should chase the lowest daily supply charge available and accept a higher usage rate, because it pays the fixed fee every day and buys very few units.
A plan with a lower usage rate and a higher supply charge is the wrong shape for that household, however good the headline looks.
Why your postcode changes the answer
Your distribution network sets the underlying charges that the retailer passes through.
Ausgrid and Endeavour in New South Wales, Citipower, Powercor and United Energy in Victoria, Energex in Queensland: each has its own approved tariffs. The same Origin plan with the same headline usage rate produces different bills for two houses in the same city on different networks.
That is why comparisons that do not take your postcode are close to useless. Use Energy Made Easy, the federal government's free service, or Victorian Energy Compare in Victoria. Both are independent, take no commission, and let you enter your own usage and export figures rather than a default household profile.
Commercial comparison sites will run the same comparison, and they are paid by the retailers they list, and not every retailer appears.
What should you actually do?
Three numbers from your last four bills: total imported kWh, total exported kWh, and how imports split across peak, shoulder and off-peak if you are on time-of-use.
Run those through the government comparison tool for your postcode. Compare Origin's total estimated annual cost against everything else that appears, not its usage rate against theirs.
Then note when any benefit period ends, because most run 12 months and revert to something considerably worse, and redo the exercise annually.
Key Takeaways
- Origin's base usage rates sit mid-market, and the competitive edge usually comes from bundling or conditional discounts rather than the tariff itself.
- On time-of-use plans, when the peak window opens matters more than the peak rate. Check it against when your household is actually home.
- Enhanced feed-in offers frequently carry a daily export cap or a higher import rate. Check both before choosing on the headline.
- For a low-import solar household the daily supply charge can be the largest line on the bill, which flips the usual advice about chasing low usage rates.
- Compare total annual cost by postcode on Energy Made Easy or Victorian Energy Compare, using your own usage figures, and repeat every year.
