March 23, 2016
Regional electricity customers will see their power bills rise by about $8 a year from July 1, according to a Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) draft determination.
QCA chair Prof Roy Green said on Wednesday morning about 600,000 regional customers on Tariff 11 would see their bills increase by about 0.6 per cent in 2016-17 under the draft determination.
It means the average residential bill could rise from $1457 a year to $1465.
However, small business customers – including farmers – will be hit harder and could see their bills rise by 9.3 per cent under the draft determination.
And 9000 larger businesses could expect a rise of between 10.2 and 10.6 per cent.
Prof Green said consultation would now begin on the draft determination before the final determination was announced later this year.
He said the rise in power prices had been driven by the growth of the LNG industry, as well as uncertainty around the Federal Government’s renewable energy target.
Energy Minister Mark Bailey said the draft decision showed typical residential bills would rise at less than half the current rate of inflation.
“Nobody likes a price rise but this latest draft decision on household bills reflects the price stabilisation that the government has been able to achieve,” he said.
“This draft decision shows that those elements of the bill that the government can impact are under control – particularly the network costs.”
Mr Bailey said the State Government would continue to subsidise regional Queensland electricity prices, with over $500 million each year to ensure that customers across regional Queensland pay a similar amount for their electricity to those in south-east Queensland.
“We use the dividends we receive from our publicly owned power companies to fund those subsidies for regional Queenslanders – something that’s only possible because we kept our assets in public hands,” he said.
Mr Bailey encouraged stakeholders to review the draft decision and provide feedback before April 20 through the QCA website
The final decision will be published by May 31, with prices to apply from July 1.
