Some households may see a minor cut to our power bills while others might be stung with a slight increase from July, according to caps proposed by the Australian Energy Regulator on Tuesday. 

These caps are called default market offers. 

But how this impacts your power bill will depend on where you live. 

Because there's no national cap — they're decided on a state level, but often not by state governments. 

Here's a breakdown of what this means and how Tuesday's announcement could impact you. 

What's a default market offer?

It's a price cap. 

In states where there are multiple energy companies, they might offer a range of different contracts or plans for power prices.

But customers will typically be on a company's default plan unless they contact their energy provider and actively choose a different plan. 

The AER's default market offer is a cap on how much companies can charge for that basic, automatic plan each year. 

"When [a power company is] making an offer to you, they have to say how it compares to the default market offer," AER chair Clare Savage says. 

But it's important to remember that this is just a proposed set of figures at this stage — they won't be confirmed until May. 

Could this apply to all states?

No. 

While the AER sounds like it should be a national body, it only covers two-and-a-bit states:

• New South Wales
• South Australia
• South-east Queensland  

We also heard from Victoria's equivalent regulator on Tuesday (Victoria's Essential Services Commission) so that's another state added to the list. 

How much could power bills change by?

New South Wales:

This depends on which distribution network region you're in.

Residential customers without controlled load: Ranging from 0.9 increase to a 3 per cent decrease 

Customers with controlled load: A decrease ranging from 0.4 to 7.1 per cent

South Australia:

Residential customers without controlled load: About a 2.5 per cent decrease

Customers with controlled load: 0.5 per cent decrease

South-east Queensland:

Residential customers without controlled load: 2.7 per cent increase

Customers with controlled load: Unchanged

Victoria: 

A 6.4 per cent decrease for residential customers

But we don't have the estimates for these states and territories yet:

• ACT
• Northern Territory 
• Regional Queensland
• Tasmania
• Western Australia 

That's because they're set by different bodies, which haven't yet released their draft figures. 

Here's a breakdown of who decides that for each state and territory:

When will this kick in?

For most states and territories, prices won't rise until the next financial year — so July at the earliest.