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News$580 Power Bill Increase? What?
$580 Power Bill Increase? What?

$580 Power Bill Increase? What?

Tags: Energy Information
Last updated by Joel Gibson on

We've been warning members for sometime that there are outrageous price rises coming to power bills in July, and now it's becoming official. 

The first increases were announced yesterday in the ACT, with average homes getting a $580 whack on the electricity and gas bills.

It's never been more important to shop around for cheap power. Be sure to check out the Club's current special offers at this link for members, which can save an average home 100s of dollars if you're not on a competitive plan.

"Households across the eastern states are about to be hit directly by the closure of the giant Hazelwood power station in Victoria and soaring gas prices, with sharp hikes in retail electricity prices from July 1 coming on top of the hefty increases in recent years," the AFR reported.

"Homes across NSW, the ACT and South Australia could see bill increases of up to 30 per cent, sources say, with some Victorian households about to see their second sharp hike this year as smaller retailers seek to offset the pain of soaring wholesale prices."

ActewAGL announced their standing electricity offers will rise by 18.95% and gas by 17.3% and the Australia Financial Review predicted it was a sign of things to come in NSW, VIC, SA and QLD.

ActewAGL chief executive Michael Costello acknowledged the price hikes were "unprecedented" and blamed them on "ten years of uncertainty in national energy policy" which had left investors paralysed.

Wholesale prices have more than doubled in the past two years, and it's about to be passed on to households.

The AFR reported: "Mr Costello said national policy had failed to take into account the impact on the local market of the  "massive" gas export licences for the Queensland LNG producers, which meant the country now exports about 10 times the volume of gas as is used at home."

Originally posted on .

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$580 Power Bill Increase? What?

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Kerry
Kerry from QLD commented:

The worst thing is where I live there is no competition. Mackay region only has 1 provider WTF 

john
john from QLD commented:

I AGREE with Michael Limon from Townsville, ya are just seeming to be nothing but rip offs,like the B/S from True Blue,got in touch with them after seeing the deal advertized and the person at other end NEVER heard of it,signed up to see IF they are full of it as you'se seem. john j m hall Stanwell. 

Michael
Michael from QLD commented:

Your headline reads "$580 power bill increase? What?" The accompanying article by Joel Gibson includes the sentence "Be sure to check out the Club's current special offers at the link for members, which can save the average home 100's of dollars" When you click on this link........... it takes you back to the first page.....where the headline reads "$580 power bill increase? What?" Absolutely no indication as to how to save 100's of dollars Then a blue panel pops up at the foot of the page with "Members Only Energy Offer" "Click here to see our Group Discounted Enery Offer" and there's an orange panel with "SEE OFFER" on it. So you click this panel.......and you get back to the first page where scrolling down, you see the headline "$580 Power Bill Increase? What?" Guys, you just wasted 1/2 an hour of my time with this little exercise in futility. If you ever actually come up with a way to save money on your power bill, let me know. Thanks (for nothing) Mike Limon Townsville 

Karen
Karen from NSW commented:

I already have no heating, no aircon, turn everything off at the wall (except the energy saving fridge and oven), do washing only once a week, no clothes dryer, use only energy efficient globes, light only the room I am in and leave nothing on standby. So what am I supposed to do to lower my electricity bill? 

Someone
Someone from QLD commented:

totally absurd that in a country where the sun shines virtually on a 24/7 basis its residents have to pay more then the guys and gals overseas and they get our power etc. in Europe whole cities are working on solar power and they've not even got as much sun as we have! 

margaret
margaret from NSW commented:

Yes and overseas our gas and electricity producing coal is used to produce power at prices lower than in its country of origin. This also applies to other products. Today I heard on radio of importing orange juice because our oranges are sent overseas. Is it now difficult for you to afford lamb and beef? Much of that is going to countries so poor we send them foreign aid as well as our beef and lamb. Of course our farmers are mindful of us. Every flood, every bush fire, every drought we hear from them. Then there is 'Buy a Bale', 'Blaze Aid' and Bras and Cosmetic appeals, for desperate farmers wives doing it tough, and so on. Like you I have donated to some of these and whilst where the products go is not entirely up to the producer, some of us are curious as to how much is donated in money and time by those oversea customers who are enjoying the end product. By the way am I the only one who turns up to a farmers market because our "poor farmers' are getting so very little from the supermarkets that this method of selling direct really helps them to make ends meet (meat?). Am I the only one who then finds the prices even dearer then in those high markup supermarkets. Now I'm not looking for something for nothing and yes it is nice and fresh, how ever after the warm glow wears off and I cost in the fare I paid to get out to the market, I realize the warm glow is a budget buster and if I want a warm glow I should put on another jumper. 

Someone
Someone from QLD commented:

It seems that a few places are able to access cheaper power due to the major energy company has some competition. Townsville has no competition, no alternative energy supplier, so we are stuck with the astronomical charges. 

George
George from NSW commented:

More scare mongering. The suggestion to shop around has limited uses, as any new supplier you go to will also increase by a similar margin! It would be more useful if petitions were launched to BAN increases more than CPI. 

Peter
Peter from NSW commented:

Having been with Click for 2 years now I find the largest part of my bill is the daily service charge as I export 16kilwatts per day. It would be nice if Click would follow the ACCC recommendations and increase the feed in tariff to at least 15cents per kilowatt to offset the daily service charge. 

Di
Di from QLD commented:

Shopping around may be well and good, but we don't have the luxury to do so in Hervey Bay. We have one provider and one only. Ergon. Even if we go to Solar, we are still forced to pay - what used to be called "pole maintenance". At present, that runs at about $160 a bill. So we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

Loraine
Loraine from QLD replied to Di:

We are in the same boat as Di. We live in Nth Queensland where we only have one provider Ergon Energy. With the humidity in summer we rely on our air conditioner for some relief. If the cost of power goes too high, we may have to spend our days in the shopping centre. Loraine 

Grahame
Grahame from NSW commented:

Perhaps we should all get rid of our solar panels and use more power. Then, more profit to the power lords might hopefully provide a justification for them to lower prices. As much chance of this happening as pigs flying. At least we all should receive more for putting power into the grid that they onsell at a huge price! 

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