When the Australian Government introduced the carbon tax in 2012, it forced many small businesses look at just how energy efficient (or inefficient) they were. For the first time — and often for less than altruistic reasons — business owners wanted to know exactly how much energy they were consuming.

And with that came the deals; nearly every energy company can offer you a better deal on your gas and electricity. They talk to you about kilowatts and volts and amps, they guarantee a better deal if your bundle your gas with your electricity — there is probably a better deal if you throw in your first born, too.

Which Energy Deal is Best for Me?

But what does it mean? Sure, every energy company can offer a better deal, but which deal is the right one? How do you cut through the spin and get down to the nuts and bolts of what each energy provider is offering in relation to your energy consumption?

Enter the government’s Energy Made Easy website — an initiative of the Australian Government and maintained by the Australian Energy Regulator; Australia’s national energy market regulator.

The Energy Made Easy comparator website was developed in 2012 the National Energy Retail Law, which came into effect in July of the same year, and allows residential and small businesses to compare cost of energy providers in their area.

Like the NSW Government, via the Motor Accidents Authority, operates a Greenslip Calculator website — which compares the prices for all currently licensed Green Slip insurers in the state — the Energy Made Easy website does the same for energy providers.

The Energy Made Easy website also offers tips on how to reduce your energy consumption and, importantly, how to properly understand your energy consumption.

There is a drawback, however: you can only compare energy offers in you’re a residential or small business customer in the ACT and South Australia or a small business electricity customer in Tasmania.

For those other states, they’re excluded because they’re either not covered by the National Energy Retail Law (WA, for instance) or because there’s already an existing service in operation for that state (NSW customers are re-routed to the Independent Pricing Regulatory Tribunal).

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Whether the Energy Made Easy website will soon cover the other states and territories, currently being excluded is yet to be determined. The Energy Made Easy site does go a long way, however, to helping consumers understand their energy consumption to better minimise their carbon footprint, and in turn, their energy costs.