October 8, 2015
Federal Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd has accused the Queensland Government of extracting a “secret tax” through rising electricity prices.
Mr O’Dowd said Ergon Energy was using its monopoly status to determine the price Queenslanders pay for electricity … “a situation which cannot last”.
“Ergon is a Queensland Government-owned enterprise that has a monopoly on electricity, so they can charge whatever they want and have in fact raised household electricity prices by 93 per cent since 2009,” he said.
He said Ergon’s annual report, released this week, showed the State Government had received $1.9 billion in dividends from Ergon Energy, which Mr O’Dowd said was proof the State Government had implemented a “secret tax”.
“This phenomenal extraction from Ergon’s dividends shows the Queensland Labor Government is taxing by stealth, and this approach will drive up electricity prices even further,” Mr O’Dowd said.
“It is bizarre that the State Government has also announced a review into how electricity prices can be lowered when they could do it themselves. It just makes no sense.”
Mr O’Dowd urged members of the public who were concerned about the cost of electricity to write to him so he could “advocate on behalf of the community for the State Government to rein in electricity prices”.
He can be contacted by email
