NSW Low Income Household Rebate (On-Supply Customers)

Who Can Claim

The eligibility block is a single all set, identical to the retail rule except for the supply-type flag. Every condition below must pass before Service NSW approves the lump sum:

1. NSW residency: the on-supply address must be in New South Wales. The card holder's address can be cross-checked against the on-supply bill issuer.
2. Qualifying concession card: Pensioner Concession Card (PCC), Health Care Card (HCC), Low Income Health Care Card (LIHCC), or DVA Gold Card (War Widow/Widower, TPI, EDA subtypes). Same white-list as the retail variant.
3. Account holder: electricity_bill_account_holder = true. The card holder must be the person named on the on-supply bill from the strata, building manager or village operator. Many embedded-network operators bill at the unit level, but in some retirement villages the bill is consolidated into the operator's master statement; in that case you may need to obtain a sub-bill or consumption statement from the operator before lodging.
4. Principal place of residence: the on-supply address must be your main home, not an investment unit you rent out or a holiday apartment.
5. On-supply flag: electricity_supply_type = on_supply. The fastest way to confirm is to check whether the issuer of your bill appears on the AER public register of licensed retailers (look up "AER retailer authorisations"). If the issuer is your strata, owners corporation or village operator, you are on-supply. If the issuer is a licensed retailer, you are retail and need the other page.

The exclusion mirrors the retail rule: holding a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card disqualifies you (CSHC holders go to the Seniors Energy Rebate page). The conflicts list also blocks dual claims with the LIHR Retail variant or the Seniors Energy Rebate.

What You Get

The headline is $313.50 per financial year, paid as a single bank transfer by Service NSW after your application is approved. Unlike the retail rebate (which appears as a daily discount on each bill), the on-supply payment lands in your bank account in one hit. The $313.50 figure is fixed regardless of your actual on-supply consumption or the number of supply days in the year.

• Payment method: bank transfer to the account nominated on the Service NSW application. Some applicants opt for cheque if they prefer not to share bank details, but the default and faster pathway is direct deposit.
• Annual cap: $313.50. The amount block has empty multiplier and no date_windows; on-supply consumption above or below the average does not change the figure.
• Pro-rata: the rebate is paid in full once approved, regardless of the date of approval within the financial year. This is different from the retail variant which pro-rates daily. A HCC granted in March still attracts the full $313.50 if you apply in April and the application is approved before 30 June.
• Stacking: the on-supply LIHR can stack with the on-supply Family Energy Rebate ($198 reduced to $22 when stacked, total $335.50), with the on-supply Medical Energy Rebate ($313.50) where a doctor-certified condition applies (combined $627), and with the federal National Energy Bill Relief while it is active. It does not stack with the retail LIHR or the Seniors Energy Rebate.

Worked example: Hira, a 34-year-old single mother in Auburn, lives in a 2018-built four-storey apartment block where electricity is onsold by the building manager via embedded network. She holds a HCC. Her monthly bill from the strata averages $145 across the year. She lodges the Service NSW form online in late July with her HCC, the most recent monthly bill, and her bank details. Service NSW approves the application 3 weeks later and the $313.50 lands in her CommBank account on the 24th day. With about $1,740 in annual on-supply costs, the rebate covers roughly 18% of her year's electricity. She also stacks the on-supply Family Energy Rebate ($22) for $335.50 total because she received FTB-A in 2024-25.

How to Apply

Application channel is Service NSW, online or by mail. This is the opposite of the retail variant, which is retailer-only. The intake steps:

1. Open the Service NSW transaction page at service.nsw.gov.au and search "Low Income Household Rebate on-supply" (the URL is in the footer below). You can also lodge by paper form if you prefer; download the PDF, fill in by hand, and post to the address on the form.
2. Provide your concession card details (card number, name as it appears on the card, expiry date) plus your CRN. Service NSW cross-checks via Centrelink Confirmation Service or DVA equivalent.
3. Upload a recent on-supply electricity bill showing your name as the account holder and the on-supply address. The bill must be from the current quarter or month; older bills may be rejected.
4. Provide your bank account details (BSB and account number) for the transfer. Cheque is available as an alternative but slower.
5. Wait 4-6 weeks for approval and payment. Service NSW reviews the application, confirms the card via Centrelink, and triggers the bank transfer. You receive a confirmation email when payment is made.

The rule's application_meta.evidence_required list is: concession card, electricity bill (on-supply), bank account. There is no doctor certificate or income statement.

Read the official Service NSW on-supply LIHR transaction page ↑

When You'll See It

Three timing facts. First, the rebate is paid once per financial year, not in instalments. Once approved, the $313.50 lands in your bank account in a single hit, typically within 4-6 weeks of lodgement. Second, the rebate does not auto-renew. Unlike the retail variant where the retailer keeps the concession flag on file across financial years, the on-supply rebate is a fresh per-year application. You must re-apply each financial year (1 July to 30 June) with a current bill from that year.

Third, you can lodge anytime within the financial year. There is no early-July rush. A claim lodged on 30 June (the last day of the financial year) is still accepted as long as the application reaches Service NSW before midnight; the payment may, however, fall in the next financial year due to processing time. Better practice is to lodge by April so the payment lands in May or June.

The rule itself runs from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. NSW Treasury reviews the on-supply rate annually; the $313.50 figure is the 2025-26 setting. If you move from on-supply to retail (for example, leaving an apartment for a free-standing house), you switch from this rebate to the retail variant for the year of the move, but you cannot collect both for the same period.

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Hira, single mother, Auburn embedded-network apartment

Hira is 34, lives in a four-storey 2018-built block in Auburn with her two children (8 and 5), and holds a HCC because she works part-time as a casual childcare worker while studying. Her electricity comes via the building's embedded network and the strata manager bills her monthly at unit level. She lodges the Service NSW on-supply LIHR application on 22 July with her HCC, her July strata bill, and her CommBank BSB and account number. Approval comes through on 12 August, and $313.50 lands in her account on 14 August. She also receives the on-supply Family Energy Rebate ($22) on a separate application because she received FTB-A in 2024-25. Total NSW energy support: $335.50/yr.

Scenario 2: Helena, retirement village resident, Marrickville

Helena is 72, an Age Pensioner, and moved into a Marrickville retirement village in 2024. The village operator runs the electricity meter through the master meter and bills each resident a separate quarterly statement. Her PCC is current. She lodges the on-supply rebate online with her PCC, the September quarter bill from the village, and her ANZ details. Service NSW approves and pays $313.50 on 5 October. Because retirement villages often see residents move in part-way through the year, the full $313.50 lands regardless of how many months she has been at the address - the rebate is per-financial-year, not pro-rated to days in residence.

Scenario 3: Yifei, Hurstville apartment, retail customer (wrong page)

Yifei is 47, holds a Low Income HCC, lives in a Hurstville unit built in 1995. He assumes he is on-supply because "everyone in apartments is on-supply." When he opens his bill it is from EnergyAustralia, a licensed retailer; his unit has its own meter and Yifei chose the retailer when he moved in. He is actually a retail customer and his on-supply application is rejected by Service NSW with a note to re-apply through his retailer. He calls EnergyAustralia, registers his HCC, and his retail rebate ($285) starts as a daily discount from the November bill. Lesson: the rule of thumb is "older block + own meter = retail; newer block + master meter = on-supply." Always check the bill issuer.

Scenario 4: Marwan, Lakemba caravan park, account in operator's name (blocked)

Marwan, 41, lives in a long-term Lakemba caravan park cabin with his wife and three children. The park operator pays the master power bill and adds a flat fee to weekly site rent. Marwan is not the named account holder on any on-supply bill - the operator is. His PCC is current but the rule's electricity_bill_account_holder = true gate fails because the bill goes to the operator. The fix in this case is for the park to start issuing a sub-bill in his name (some operators do this on request, especially for residents with concession cards), at which point Marwan can lodge with Service NSW. Without that sub-bill the rebate is unreachable.

Common Mistakes

• Applying for the wrong variant (retail vs on-supply): the decisive field is electricity_supply_type. Look at the bill issuer. If it is a licensed retailer (Origin, AGL, EnergyAustralia, Red Energy, Alinta), apply via the retailer for the $285 retail rebate. If it is your strata, building manager, owners corporation, retirement village operator or caravan park, apply via Service NSW for the $313.50 on-supply rebate. Lodging on-supply when you are actually retail (or vice versa) gets the application rejected.
• CSHC holders applying anyway: the LIHR rule explicitly excludes Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders via excludes.any. CSHC holders should claim the NSW Seniors Energy Rebate ($200/yr by bank transfer) instead. Holding both PCC and CSHC is rare but possible during pension transitions; in that case, use PCC for LIHR.
• Not on the on-supply bill: in many caravan parks and some retirement villages the operator pays the master bill and adds a fee to rent. The cardholder is not the named account holder on any on-supply bill, which fails electricity_bill_account_holder = true. The fix is to ask the operator to issue a sub-bill in your name; some are willing once they understand the rebate is at stake.
• Forgetting to re-apply each year: unlike the retail variant which auto-renews, the on-supply rebate is a fresh per-financial-year claim. Lodging in 2025-26 does not carry over to 2026-27. Diary the renewal in late July.
• Confusing the on-supply LIHR with the on-supply Family Energy Rebate: these are two separate rebates with two separate applications. The LIHR is concession-card-based; the FER is FTB-A-based. They stack but the FER amount drops from $198 to $22 when both run because of the FER's reduces_if clause. Total stack $335.50, not $511.50.
• Older bills rejected by Service NSW: the application requires a "recent" on-supply bill, in practice no older than the most recent quarter or month. Bills from a year ago are rejected. Pull a fresh statement from your strata or village portal before lodging.

Related NSW Energy Benefits

• NSW Low Income Household Rebate (Retail) — same eligibility but $285/yr applied as a daily bill discount through your retailer. Applies if your bill comes from a licensed retailer rather than from your strata or building manager. Mutually exclusive with this on-supply page.
• NSW Family Energy Rebate (On-Supply) — $198/yr (reduced to $22 when stacked with this LIHR) for FTB-A households on the same on-supply bill. Use the same Service NSW intake.
• NSW Medical Energy Rebate (On-Supply) — $313.50/yr for on-supply households where a member has a doctor-certified temperature-regulation condition. Stacks fully with this rebate for combined $627/yr.
• NSW Seniors Energy Rebate — $200/yr for CSHC holders (mutually exclusive with this rebate). The parallel pathway for self-funded retirees who are not on PCC or HCC.
• National Energy Bill Relief (NSW) — federal-state co-funded one-off credits, automatic for retail customers but on-supply customers must apply via Service NSW to receive the credit. Available as a separate stream.
• NSW Gas Rebate (On-Supply / Bottled LPG) — $121/yr by Service NSW lump sum if your gas is also onsold (embedded gas network) or supplied via bottled LPG. Many on-supply electricity recipients also have on-supply or bottled gas; both can be claimed in parallel.

Frequently Asked Questions