Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
You have finally decided to do something about your energy bill. Maybe you have been with the same energy company for years, or you just moved and took the easy option through the Real Estate agent. Either way, you are ready to switch, and you want the effort to count. So you look for the easy, free options. The names that come up first are the big comparison sites: iSelect, Compare the Market and Compare Club. They are simple to use, they are free, and in a few minutes they hand you a plan and offer to do the switch for you. It feels like the job is done. Here we review Compare Club to see how they perform.
This review takes a closer look at one of them, Compare Club, and asks a simple question. When it quotes you a plan, is it actually the cheapest one you could get or even a good one? We modelled the plan Compare Club quoted against the cheapest plan available in the broader market for the same distributor area, tariff type and usage. Across every sample we ran, a cheaper plan was available somewhere else. The largest gap was $327 a year on a typical home in Brisbane, where the Compare Club plan came to $2,113 against a best-market plan of $1,786.
That does not make Compare Club a bad service. It makes it a normal one. The same rule applies here as with any free comparison site: the plan you are shown is a starting point drawn from a limited panel, not proof that nothing cheaper exists.
Compare Club Review: Quick Verdict
What is Compare Club?
Compare Club is an Australian comparison and switching service that compares energy plans, plus health insurance, home loans and other products, from a panel of energy companies and helps you sign up.
Where is Compare Club available?
Energy comparison is offered across the main National Electricity Market states. Our modelling covers Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia for electricity and gas, depending on what is available in each area.
Does Compare Club compare every energy provider?
No. Like other commercial comparison services, it works from a panel of energy companies it has agreements with, so it does not cover the whole market.
Biggest overpayment we found
$327 a year on a Brisbane (Energex) electricity sample, where the Compare Club plan cost $2,113 against a best-market plan of $1,786.
Best for
People who want a quick baseline figure and a hand with the switching paperwork, rather than the cheapest plan in the market.
Main downside
The plan Compare Club quotes comes from a limited panel and earns the service a commission, so it is usually not the cheapest plan available across the broader market.
What Is Compare Club?
Compare Club is a comparison and brokerage business. On the energy side it asks for your location and some usage details, shows you a plan from its panel of energy companies, and can arrange the switch for you. It is free to use because the providers on the panel pay Compare Club a commission when a customer signs up.
That model is standard across the industry, and it is worth understanding because it explains how the service makes its money. Compare Club is not paid by you. It is paid by the energy companies it sends customers to. If you want to know what drives a free comparison service, follow the money.
What you get in return is convenience. Instead of researching providers or reading through plans yourself, you get a single quoted figure and a switching service attached to it. The cost of that convenience is a narrower set of options, and that is the open question this review focuses on: how the quoted figure stacks up once you compare it against the broader market rather than just the panel Compare Club draws from.
How Compare Club Works
- You enter your postcode and property details.
- You provide usage information, or Compare Club estimates it for a household of your size.
- It returns a recommended plan from its panel of energy companies.
- It can complete the switch on your behalf.
The trade-off is straightforward. This is faster than comparing every provider yourself, but because the recommendation is panel-based, the plan you are shown is not guaranteed to be the cheapest one available. A provider that is not on the panel, or a sharper plan from one that is, can sit below the quoted figure.
The Panel Is Smaller Than It Looks
The catch with any panel is not just how many brands are on it. It is that the Australian market has consolidated, so several brands you might be offered are owned by the same parent company. A panel that looks like eight or nine choices can be far fewer independent businesses once you trace the ownership.
Here are some of the links worth knowing:
| Brand you might be offered | Actually owned by |
|---|---|
| Red Energy, Lumo Energy | Snowy Hydro (Australian Government) |
| OVO Energy, Click Energy, Powerdirect | AGL |
| 1st Energy, Energy Locals | Origin Energy |
| Dodo Power & Gas | Vocus Group |
| Powershop | Shell Energy |
| Momentum Energy | Hydro Tasmania (Tasmanian Government) |
| ENGIE (formerly Simply Energy) | ENGIE (France) |
| EnergyAustralia | CLP Holdings (Hong Kong) |
Origin, for example, bought Energy Locals in late 2025 and 1st Energy in early 2026, and AGL now owns OVO Energy, Click Energy and Powerdirect. So even a shortlist that reads like a spread of independent companies can, in practice, funnel back to a handful of large ones. This list is illustrative of how the market is structured rather than a snapshot of Compare Club’s exact panel, and panels change over time, but it shows why “we compare a range of providers” is not the same as “we compare the whole market”.
It plays out in our own numbers below. The plans Compare Club quoted in this review were mostly Dodo, Origin and ENGIE plans, while the cheaper deals we found for the same homes came from providers that were not the ones being recommended.
Does Compare Club Find the Cheapest Energy Plans?
To test this, we took sample households across the states Compare Club covers. For each one we recorded the plan Compare Club quoted, then found the cheapest plan available in the broader market for the same distributor area, tariff type and annual usage. Comparing like with like this way isolates the difference between the panel result and the wider market.
Across every sample we were able to model, a cheaper plan was available elsewhere. The size of the gap varied by state and fuel type. The widest gaps showed up in Queensland electricity, where a Brisbane sample was $327 a year above the best-market plan, and in Victorian electricity, where a Traralgon sample was $213 higher. Gas gaps were generally smaller.
The tables below are selected examples of overpayment, not a comprehensive audit. They are enough to show the pattern.
Summary of Overpayments Identified
| Category | Biggest Overpayment |
|---|---|
| VIC Electricity | $213/year |
| VIC Gas | $132/year |
| NSW Gas | $145/year |
| QLD Electricity | $327/year |
| SA Electricity | $78/year |
| SA Gas | $107/year |
New South Wales electricity and Queensland gas samples were not populated in the source data for this round, so they are not included above.
Compare Club Electricity Review: VIC, QLD and SA
Victoria
| Distributor | Town | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citipower | Camberwell | $1,309 | $1,190 | $119 |
| Powercor | Bendigo | $1,441 | $1,310 | $132 |
| Jemena | Heidelberg | $1,387 | $1,256 | $131 |
| Ausnet | Traralgon | $1,624 | $1,411 | $213 |
| United Energy | Moorabbin | $1,333 | $1,231 | $102 |
Across the Victorian electricity samples the gap ran from $102 in Moorabbin up to $213 in Traralgon.
Queensland
| Tariff | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime (single rate) | $2,113 | $1,786 | $327 |
| Time of use | $2,056 | $1,750 | $306 |
The Brisbane (Energex) samples showed the widest electricity gaps in our modelling, at $327 on the single-rate tariff and $306 on time of use. On the single-rate sample, the plan Compare Club quoted was an Origin plan, while the cheapest plan for the same home sat $327 a year lower.
South Australia
| Tariff | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime (single rate) | $2,742 | $2,664 | $78 |
The Adelaide (SAPN) single-rate sample was the closest electricity result we saw, at $78 above the best-market plan. Here Compare Club quoted an ENGIE plan, with a cheaper plan from another provider sitting just below it.
Compare Club Gas Review: VIC, NSW and SA
Victoria
| Distributor | Town | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multinet 1 | Camberwell | $2,104 | $1,972 | $132 |
| Ausnet Central 1 | Bendigo | $2,041 | $1,972 | $69 |
| AGN Central 2 | Heidelberg | $2,027 | $2,016 | $11 |
| AGN Central 1 | Traralgon | $2,027 | $2,016 | $11 |
| Multinet 2 | Moorabbin | $2,104 | $1,972 | $132 |
Victorian gas gaps ranged from $11 in Heidelberg and Traralgon up to $132 in Camberwell and Moorabbin.
New South Wales
| Distributor | Town | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jemena Coastal | Hamilton South | $2,385 | $2,240 | $145 |
The Hamilton South sample was $145 a year above the best-market plan.
South Australia
| Distributor | Town | Compare Club Yearly Cost | Best Plan Yearly Cost | Overpayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGN South Australia | Adelaide | $1,236 | $1,129 | $107 |
The Adelaide gas sample came in $107 above the cheapest plan we found for the same area.
Why Compare Club Plans Cost More
The reason is structural. Compare Club compares plans from a panel of energy companies it has commercial arrangements with, not the whole market. When the recommendation is limited to that panel, and the service earns a commission on sign-ups, the plan you are shown reflects that narrower set of choices rather than the cheapest option available everywhere.
This is not unique to Compare Club. Almost every commercial comparison service in Australia runs on some version of a panel-and-commission model, and the well-known names work the same way. It is simply how free comparison services fund themselves.
There is a second cost that is easy to miss. Once you switch, the job feels finished, so you put it away for a year or three. Your new energy company is counting on exactly that inertia. A plan that was competitive on the day you signed up can quietly drift, and the discount that sold you often rolls off after the first year. So a single quote that was a few hundred dollars short to begin with can cost you far more over the time you leave it alone.
Is Compare Club Worth Using?
Compare Club can give you a fast baseline and some help with the switching admin. If all you want is a quick number and you are not chasing the last dollar, it will do that much.
If you want the cheapest plan you can actually get, treat the quote as step one rather than the destination:
- Use Compare Club to get a quick baseline figure and note the plan it recommends.
- Write down the plan name, the rates and the estimated annual cost.
- Check that figure against the broader market before you switch, not just the panel it came from.
The state regulator tools, Victorian Energy Compare in Victoria and the national Energy Made Easy elsewhere, are a free official cross-check worth a look as well.
How to Compare Energy Plans Properly
Whether a quote comes from Compare Club or anywhere else, here is how to test it before you switch:
- Pull up your last bill or your provider’s app and note your actual usage, including the time-of-use breakdown if you have one.
- Find the full rate card for the plan you were quoted, not just the headline annual estimate.
- Compare it line by line against your current plan and the cheapest plan in the wider market: peak, shoulder and off-peak rates, the daily supply charge, gas block rates and, if you have solar, the feed-in tariff.
- Only switch if the quoted plan genuinely beats what you can get elsewhere for the way you actually use energy.
- Look beyond a single panel. A brand that is not on the comparison site you used may be the cheapest one for your address.
The Solution: Let Energy Umpire Take Care of It
Working through all of that yourself takes time, and it is exactly the part most people skip. This is where Energy Umpire comes in.
We do the wider check for you. Instead of a fixed panel, we compare plans across the broader market for your distributor area and your actual usage. We read the full rate cards, so a low headline figure cannot hide a high supply charge, and we factor in solar feed-in and gas blocks where they apply. That is how we found the gaps in this review, and it is what lets us tell you plainly whether a cheaper plan exists for your address before you commit.
We also deal with the inertia problem. Rather than switching once and forgetting about it, we keep an eye on your plan over time, so you are not quietly drifting back into an overpriced deal a year later. You get the savings, and you get to keep them, without doing the legwork yourself.
Energy Umpire Verdict
Compare Club can give you a quick number and take some of the admin off your hands when you switch. Sure you get convenience, however be clear-eyed about the limits that come with it.
Based on this review’s modelling, the plans it quoted were beatable by broader-market options in every sample we ran. The gaps reached $327 a year on Queensland electricity and $213 on Victorian electricity, with New South Wales gas at $145 and South Australian gas at $107. Even the smallest gap, $78 on a South Australian electricity sample, was still money left on the table, and that is before you count the years a “set and forget” plan can quietly cost you.
The practical takeaway is simple. Use a free comparison site for a fast baseline if you like, but check any single panel-based quote against the broader market before you switch. That is what Energy Umpire is for.
Compare Club Review FAQ
Is Compare Club free to use?
Yes. It is free because the energy companies on its panel pay it a commission when you sign up through the service.
Does Compare Club compare all energy providers?
No. It compares plans from a panel of providers it has agreements with, so it does not cover the whole market. Some brands on a panel can also share the same parent company.
Is Compare Club the cheapest way to find a plan?
Not in our modelling. Cheaper plans were available in the broader market in every sample, with gaps ranging from $78 up to $327 a year.
Where does Compare Club operate?
It compares energy across the main National Electricity Market states. Our samples cover Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.
Should I still use Compare Club?
It can give you a quick baseline and a hand with switching, but do not treat the quote as the cheapest option. Check it against the broader market before you switch.
Disclaimer
Energy prices change frequently, and the figures in this review are based on sample modelling captured at a single point in time. Rates, discounts and plan availability can move, so the specific dollar gaps above may differ by the time you read this.
Our method compares the plan Compare Club quoted against the cheapest plan available in the broader market for the same distributor area, tariff type and annual usage. This is a like-for-like comparison of a panel result against the wider market, not a claim about every plan or every household. Ownership details for energy brands are current at the time of writing and can change as the market consolidates.
Always check current pricing for your own address and usage before switching. Use your state comparison tool and Energy Umpire to confirm a quote against the broader market first.
