$580 Power Bill Increase? What?
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."
