The Labor Government has officially broken its election promise to reduce household energy bills by $275 following the release of draft regulated electricity prices today.
The draft Default Market Offer (DMO) has confirmed that Labor has fallen short by $968 of its promised price reduction for everyday households in regional NSW, equivalent to a 30.52 per cent increase since Labor came to power.
As a sign of the suffering faced by everyday Australian households, startling new numbers from the Australian Energy Regulator have also revealed 116,753 people have been placed into hardship due to their skyrocketing energy bills and 192,459 people are now in energy debt.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said the surging price of energy was consigning local people to energy poverty under Labor.
“Labor was elected on a promise that it would reduce household electricity bills by $275 but instead Australians are now paying among the most expensive bills in the world,” Mr Coulton said.
“Residents in my electorate have been hit with increases of up to $693.
“This is simply unaffordable for my constituents who are already suffering under Labor’s out of control cost-of-living-crisis.”
The draft DMO, released by the Australian Energy Regulator, sets the ‘reference price’ for electricity bills for the 2024-2025 period.
While benchmark electricity prices are set to fall for households in broader Sydney and the Central Coast, there will be a 0.9 per cent increase for residents in regional NSW, as well as a 0.7 per cent increase for small businesses in the bush.
“Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is going around touting this as good news for Australian consumers, and yet households and small businesses in the Parkes electorate will be worse off,” Mr Coulton said.
“Residential customers in the Parkes electorate will pay an extra $22 a year for their power bills and small businesses will face an additional $41. While this doesn’t sound like much, it all adds up, particularly when family budgets are already stretched to capacity.
“This just goes to show that once again, regional Australia is forgotten by this city-centric Labor Government.”
The draft DMO will now be consulted on before the final determination is made in coming months.
The final 2023-24 DMO recorded a slight increase in the overall cost of electricity, throwing into the question the likelihood of any substantial changes before the final determination for the 2024-25 DMO is made.
