Electricity bills for hundreds of thousands of Australian households will rise by $ 100 a year or more as consumers begin to feel the pinch of rising fossil fuel prices that drive up the cost of generating electricity. energy in the energy grid.
The intensification of pressures on the cost of living while inflation remains at a two-decade high, a decision by the Australian energy regulator on Thursday is the first indication that sharp rises in wholesale electricity prices they will cause double-digit jumps in household and small business bills across the country in a matter of weeks.
Electricity bills are rising again after spikes in coal prices led to an increase in wholesale power generation costs. Credit: IStock
The so-called “default market bids”, the price limits on which retailers can charge households and businesses that do not accept special offers or group utility bills, would increase in all states of the electricity grid. east coast, the regulator said. . As of July 1, default bids will increase by 14 per cent, or $ 227, in New South Wales; 11 percent, or $ 165, in Queensland; and 7 per cent, or $ 124, in South Australia.
In Victoria, where the state’s Essential Services Commission determines its own default offering, the maximum price for homes rose 5 percent, or $ 61, a year.
“By setting these new market bid prices by default, we understand the significant impact they will have on some consumers who are already struggling with the cost of living pressures,” said Australia’s energy regulator chair. , Clare Savage.
“We’ve looked at all the factors that affect the calculation of the default market bid and set safety net prices that reflect current conditions and underlying costs for retailers.”
Prices for thermal coal loads at Newcastle Harbor have more than tripled from $ 100 a tonne to $ 350 a tonne in the last 12 monthsCredit: Nic Walker
Some 800,000 homes in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia have default offers and more than 160,000 small businesses, while more than 90% of customers across the country have market contracts instead of default offers.
The rise in default prices in NSW and Queensland is largely due to rising wholesale costs due to higher coal and gas prices added to the cost of power supply to the largest power plants in the states. Coal and natural gas prices have risen sharply around the world as the global energy crisis is exacerbated by energy companies shunning Russian supplies and looking for alternatives in an attempt to deprive Moscow of the revenue it needs to finance the war. Prices for thermal coal loads at the port of Newcastle have more than tripled, from $ 100 a tonne to $ 350 a tonne in the last 12 months, as global demand increases.