skills-il/tax-and-finance/israeli-utility-rates-comparator

Israeli Utility & Telecom Rates Comparator

Instructions

Step 1: Identify Which Utility to Compare

Establish which bill the user wants to move; the levers differ sharply. Electricity, water and cooking gas are national or near-national and barely change with location, arnona changes with the municipality, telecom with the provider. Ask for the last three bills, and where a household has several, start with the largest line rather than the one they mentioned. Market-structure background, including who owns which telecom brand, is in references/details-2026.md.

Step 2: Electricity Comparison

Understanding IEC tariff structure:

The Electricity Authority sets the tariffs. A household is on the flat tariff (one rate for all hours) or on time-of-use (תעו"ז), which needs a smart meter, has only two bands, peak and off-peak, since the new clusters were first applied on 1.1.2023 (decision 63609), and has THREE seasons, each with its own rates:

• In force from 1.7.2026, re-verified against the IEC low-voltage TOU page on 19 October 2026: all three seasons and both VAT bases still match, and no newer edition had been published.
• Peak applies on different days per season, and this is where most of the money is. In SUMMER and in TRANSITION there is NO peak band at all on Fridays, holiday eves, Shabbat or holidays: the whole day is off-peak. In WINTER the peak band applies on every day including Shabbat and holidays. There is no morning peak in any season.
• For TOU purposes these holidays count as Shabbat, and their eves as Friday: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, the first day of Sukkot, Simchat Torah, the first and seventh days of Pesach, Independence Day and Shavuot. The hours are Israel local time and the metering equipment is adjusted when summer time is in force.
• Do not quote transition-season band hours: the IEC page states them in a garbled form ("22:00-17:00").
• Is TOU worth it? Compare the flat 63.52 with the household's blended TOU rate per season, then

net off the fixed charges: on a bi-monthly single-phase connection TOU distribution is 37.88 against 11.76 on the flat tariff, about 26 ILS more per bill. In transition even the TOU peak (49.58) is below the flat rate; summer turns on how much load sits in weekday 17:00-23:00. Never quote a flat percentage saving.

Fixed charges, priced (from 1.7.2026, IEC residential tariff page). These are what makes a bill more than kWh times rate, and a total cannot be computed without them. Agorot for energy, shekels for the rest.

Two fixed charges, distribution and supply, not one, and the amount depends on whether the customer is billed monthly or bi-monthly and on whether the meter is single or three phase. Pick the row before quoting a total. A normal apartment is a bi-monthly, single-phase customer; the monthly rows are far larger per period (distribution about 16 times, supply about 7), so the wrong row can flip a supplier-switch or a TOU comparison. On the TOU tariff the fixed charges differ again, all incl. VAT: distribution 174.50 monthly and 37.88 bi-monthly, supply 127.09 monthly and 18.33 bi-monthly.

There is no broadcasting fee on an electricity bill: the official page enumerates exactly three fixed components, distribution, supply and capacity.

The residential tariff itself applies to homes used for residence only, places of worship and buildings used for agriculture.

For apartments there is also a share of common-area electricity (chashmal klali) for stairwells, lifts and lobby lighting. That is billed through the va'ad bayit and is not on the IEC bill at all, which is what surprises new tenants.

Independent electricity producers (residential market):

The supply market is open: Calcalist reported about 279,500 customers (households and businesses) moving to private suppliers during 2025 and more than 360,000 since the reform began in July 2024. Active residential suppliers in 2026 include:

• Cellcom Energy, Partner, Bezeq, HOT Energy (telecom-bundled offers)
• Pazgas Electricity, Amisragas, Electra Power (energy and gas group offers)
• OPC Energy, Dalia Energy, Enlight Renewable Energy (independent generators, historically large-customer focused, also signing residential customers)

Critical: switching does NOT replace the full bill. Independent suppliers compete only on the generation (ייצור) component. The household continues to pay IEC the fixed distribution (חלוקה) and supply (אספקה) charges and the capacity charge, priced in the table above. The supplier discount applies only to the energy portion.

Cancelling: a contract made by phone or online is a remote sale, which Kol Zchut describes as generally cancellable within 14 days under the Consumer Protection Law, and within 4 months for a customer who is 65+, disabled or a new oleh where the sale involved a conversation with a representative. Read the contract's own exit terms too.

Switching supplier does not cost an entitled household its discount. Kol Zchut states that people entitled to the 50% discount keep receiving it through the private supplier: Noga receives the list of entitled people every month and passes a credit to the supplier, which passes it on. An entitled customer who stops seeing it after switching should contact the supplier. The 50% can also be combined with the supplier's own general discount tracks.

Discounts on the electricity bill (separate from supplier choice). TWELVE groups qualify, not three, per IEC's own entitlement page. Ask which applies before assuming none does:

1. Income-support benefit under s.2(a)(4) of the Income Support Law: per Bituach Leumi, a person

above retirement age with an old-age or survivors' pension PLUS income supplement

1. Nazi-persecution and war-disabled compensation, and Holocaust survivors on income-tested

compensation

1. Old-age pension for the disabled under s.251 of the National Insurance Law
2. Special-services allowance at 112% or more
3. Disabled-child allowance where the child depends on another person's help or needs special

medical treatment (other disabled-child grounds do NOT qualify)

1. Nursing (סיעוד) allowance at level 5 or 6
2. A lone soldier in regular service, or a soldier entitled to rent assistance because of the

distance between home and posting

1. A single parent (הורה עצמאי) with three or more children receiving income support, income

supplement or alimony

1. A family with four or more children receiving income support, income supplement or alimony
2. IDF disabled at 50% or more, or below 50% with a permanent maintenance grant
3. Hostile-action casualties on the same terms
4. Special-services allowance at 50%

Per Kol Zchut the rate is 50% on up to 400 kWh/month (800 on a bi-monthly bill), on a residential tariff in the home where the entitled person lives; a reported plan to deepen it to 65% for three groups had not reached Kol Zchut by 19 October 2026, so quote 50%.

The entitlement fails silently if the contract is in the wrong name. The awarding body (Bituach Leumi, the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority, the IDF or the Defence Ministry depending on group) notifies the person and passes their details to IEC, but the discount only lands if that person is the registered IEC consumer under their own name and ID number. Anyone in one of the twelve groups who does not see a reduced payment on the bill should call IEC on 103 to have the registration corrected. Tell users this: it is the most common reason a real entitlement produces no money.

Debt and disconnection (raise it with any user whose bill is unaffordable). Ask the supplier whether a הסדר תשלומים is available for arrears, and about any special status for a household dependent on electrically powered medical equipment. The terms are set by the Electricity Authority and are not verified here: never tell the user they cannot be disconnected. Background in references/details-2026.md.

Step 3: Calculate Solar Panel ROI

The export tariff is published, and it depends on the track and the registration date. The Electricity Authority tariff book published July 2026 carries it, so earlier versions of this skill were wrong to withdraw it. For a rooftop system whose connection request was registered (through the installer; not the connection date) between 12.3.2025 and 31.12.2026, in agorot per kWh:

• On the accelerated track a 15-30 kW system pays its first 15 kW at 60 and then 38.07, and the

rest at T30, 37.31 for 2026 requests.

• The two optional tracks are open only when no other generating facility under the same

arrangement is already connected at the site.

• Urban premium (earlier versions wrongly called it unsourced): the locality must be on the

list annexed to criterion 35מה on the date the connection request is filed. The list covers localities with more than 50,000 residents (CBS) or a planned population above 50,000, or a qualifying outline plan, and is updated only after the Authority receives proof (decision 70806).

• Choose the track by arithmetic, over the term in the contract. Assuming 25 years (Globes

reports that term for existing systems; the tariff tables read here do not state it): the default 48 pays more in total than the accelerated track on any term longer than about 11.7 years, and the accelerated track only wins on present value at a discount rate above about 10.5%, i.e. a financed system or an early sale. The real track beats the default in total if average inflation exceeds about 1.75% a year, and is the only inflation-protected track.

• 2027 onward is a draft, not law. As of 19 October 2026 the Authority has a draft out for

public comment until 10 November 2026. As reported by Globes, it cuts the up-to-15-kW tariff by 5% a year from 2027 to 2030, to about 35.5 agorot in 2030 subject to the dollar rate, shortens the guarantee period, and leaves existing systems on their current terms.

The rest of the calculation: