An alphabet soup of acronyms has dominated headlines this week, as Australians try to wrap their heads around the energy crisis.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has suspended the National Energy Market (NEM) for the first time ever, to ensure our lights stay on.
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is processing compensation claims for generators directed to fire up at a loss, as the costs of making electricity surges.
Meanwhile, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) are warning retailers not to take advantage of the situation.
But what does it all actually mean for your power bills?
To prevent your brain short-circuiting, we've asked the experts to break it down for the average electricity user.
When will people start to notice higher prices?
Within weeks.
July 1 will herald in a new financial year and higher prices for electricity.
"Mostly the price increases will date from July 1. And it will then be in their first bill after that," Energy Consumers Australia chief executive Lynne Gallagher says.
She says if you get your bills monthly, you'll start to see the rises in your August bill.
If you get your bills quarterly, it'll hit home in September.
Even before this week's crisis, prices were marching up.
That's because of changes to – brace yourselves, another acronym -- the DMO, or default market offer.
It's worth noting, the DMO was set almost a month ago, before the skyrocketing wholesale prices on the spot market we've seen in recent days.
"The default market offer is a sort of safety-net offer. And those prices are set for 12 months," Ms Gallagher says.
The DMO is the highest price a retailer can charge a customer who doesn't shop around for a competitive deal.
In south-east Queensland, it's going up 11.3 per cent. In New South Wales, it's rising between 8.5 and 14.1 per cent. And in South Australia, it's hiking 7.2 per cent.
But only one in 10 customers are on the DMO, and those who shop around still stand to save hundreds of dollars a year.
Retail customers are largely protected from the wholesale market volatility that prompted AEMO to set a price cap, according to Australian Energy Regulator chair Clare Savage.
How much of the bill goes to the energy generator versus the retailer?
Wholesale costs are paid to the generator. This is around one-third of your bill, AER says.
Around 10 per cent of your bill is for retail costs.
Close to 50 per cent of your bill pays network costs. This goes to the people who build, maintain and operate electricity wires.
Then there's about 5 per cent in so-called "green costs". These are for government programs to support the development of renewable energy, for example wind farms and rooftop solar.
Will switching retailers avoid the worst of the price hikes?
It depends.
You may be better off with larger retailers, which, according to Ms Gallagher, buy electricity up to two years in advance.
"For many of them, they won't yet be paying these kinds of high rates that we saw in the last week, and they can pass the benefit of that onto customers," she says.
Ms Gallagher says smaller retailers are more vulnerable to spot market prices.
"They're not buying it 12 months in advance. They're having to pay what it costs today, or what it's expected to cost over the next month," she says.
Earlier this month, ReAmped Energy urged customers to switch companies, warning their bills would likely double.
While market offers are usually more competitive than the DMO, Origin has announced its prices will jump even higher than the default price.
For instance in Queensland, it's jacking up its variable tariff 13.7 per cent, even though the DMO is 11.3 per cent.
Origin executive general manager, retail Jon Briskin says "the vast majority" of its customers will pay less than the DMO.
Ms Gallagher warns cheaper deals will dry up, as the higher wholesale prices hit retailers.
How can people find the best deal?
The simple answer is: shop around.
To help people do that, the Australian Energy Retailer has set up a price comparison website called Energy Made Easy.
It allows you to upload your power bill and will generate a list of the best offers based on your usage.
And unlike private comparison sites, it doesn't take kickbacks.
How can you minimise your bill?
As well as finding a competitive offer, there are other ways to minimise your costs.
If you're on a "time of use" rate, you can run power-hungry appliances during the day and overnight, when energy is cheaper.
But most people are not on those rates, so Ms Gallagher recommends cutting back your usage.
"Eliminating draught, only heating the rooms that you need the heat, not trying to heat the whole house," she says.
"Heavy curtains interestingly can be just as helpful to giving you the insulation you need.
"Lots of rugs on the floor. Those are things that people who are renting can do."
Ms Gallagher says homeowners should consider adding insulation, especially in the ceiling.
"It is really worth thinking about doing those things when our expectation is that prices are going to stay high for a while," she says.
Light at the end of the tunnel
As more coal plants are repaired and returned to service, Ms Gallagher says the situation should improve, "hopefully in the next six to nine months".
The weather is also a factor. Come spring, people won't be switching on their heaters as much.
And more sun will mean more rooftop solar generation.
"This year with the kind of weather that we've all experienced, particularly on the east coast, with more rain, more cloud cover, the kind of output we've come to expect from solar, and also to an extent, from wind, means that that very cheap power has also not been as available," Ms Gallagher says.
"So we've got very expensive fossil fuel power and a lack of the normal levels of very cheap power."
Ms Gallagher is hopeful of a sunnier outlook.
"Prices will still certainly be higher than they were 12 months ago, but certainly the hope is they're not as high as they've been in the last four to six weeks," she says.
