Electricity prices and affordability is a real issue for Queensland families and businesses, and the government is taking action to address it.
This week all fourteen electricity retailers in Queensland were invited to sign on to the Affordable Energy Pledge to save Queenslanders money on their power bills.
The pledge commits retailers to:
- Pass on, in full and display on bills to customers the savings in the Government’s Affordable Energy Plan, including the rebate of $50 a year for every household bill over the next two years, starting from January 2018 and evident on bills from the second quarter of 2018.
- Pass on savings from government intervention that have been modelled by ACIL Allen (view the report (PDF, 523KB)).
- Fully co-operate with a new Queensland Competition Authority investigation, under the Electricity Act 1994, into electricity bills paid by residential customers in the deregulated south-east Queensland market and comparisons with the regulated market in regional and rural Queensland.
- Assist with advising consumers of electricity concessions available for pensioners, seniors and health care card holders.
We are committed to addressing the issue of electricity prices and affordability, and are looking to Queensland electricity retailers to formally pledge their support.
We have already reinvested $770 million in dividends to keep average household price rises to 3.3% this year, and this pledge will help ensure savings are passed on to consumers for the next two years.
So far 19 retailers have committed to the Premier’s Affordable Energy Pledge to make Queensland power bills more affordable. These retailers service around 99% of residential and small business customers in Queensland:
- 1st Energy
- AGL
- Alinta
- Amaysim
- Click Energy
- Diamond Energy
- EnergyAustralia
- Energy Locals
- Energy Queensland/ Ergon Energy
- ERM Power
- Mojo Power
- Momentum Energy
- Next Business Energy
- Origin Energy
- Powerdirect
- Powershop Australia
- QEnergy
- Red/Lumo
- Simply
If your retailer is not on the list, ask them to take the Affordable Energy Pledge.
The pledge is part of $2 billion Affordable Energy Plan to provide cost of living relief to Queenslanders, featuring $300 million of new initiatives from 1 January 2018 including:
- Rebates of up to $300 to purchase an energy efficient fridge, washing machines or air conditioner. This provides bill savings of up to $50 a year for an energy efficient washing machine or fridge or $135 a year for an air conditioner. Up to 100,000 Queensland households are expected to take up the offer ($20 million).
- An Asset Ownership Dividend of $50 a year for every household bill over the next two years, starting from January 2018 and evident on bills from the second quarter of 2018 ($200 million).
- Annual discounts for regional Ergon customers of $75 for households and $120 for small businesses that take up monthly billing options. 200,000 regional households are expected to initially take up this offer ($15 million).
- Another 4000 regional households can save up to $200 through the expansion of the Energy Savvy program ($4 million).
- Support for primary producers by delivering an additional 200 energy audits to agricultural customers through an expanded Energy Savers Plus program in partnership with the Queensland Farmers’ Federation, as well as providing a 50% co-contribution (up to $20,000) to implement audit recommendations ($10 million).
- Support for Queensland jobs and industry by providing energy audits for large customers including manufacturers, with a 50% co-contribution to implement recommendations (up to $250,000 per customer). This is expected to deliver savings of 10% to 40% for large industrial customers ($10 million).
- Another $41 million in affordability additional measures.
