Regional Queenslanders are set to bear the brunt of the nation’s soaring power prices following a ruling that will hike their bills almost 30 per cent.
The rise from July 1 will add $429 a year, or 28.7 per cent for regional customers, taking the average annual household bill to $1926, according to a final decision by the Queensland Competition Authority.
The average small business will be slugged $511 a year more, or 26.8 per cent, and pay $2148 a year.
The increase follows announced increases of up to 25 per cent in the state’s southeast, including the Sunshine Coast, and southern states last month and has renewed calls for greater support for struggling customers in this week’s Queensland budget.
The rise is higher than rises announced last month for southeast Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
The Australian Energy Regulator confirmed electricity prices will increase by between 19 and 25 per cent from July 1, while Victoria’s Energy Services Commission ruled default market offer would rise by 25 per cent.
The authority blames the increase in regional Queensland on rising wholesale costs, which have been hit by factors such as higher coal and gas prices due to the war in Ukraine and global supply constraints.
Problems with coal-fired power also causes uncertainty, with the report released on Friday highlighting major outages and delays at the Kogan Creek and Callide C stations.
“These events have placed upward pressure on wholesale energy prices and are important determinants of Queensland retailers’ energy costs and of the wholesale cost of energy in the NEM (National Electricity Market) more broadly,” the report says.
State Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has been contacted for comment.
The opposition blamed the Palaszczuk Government’s failure to maintain energy assets, particularly the delays to repairing the generators at central Queensland’s Callide C, which has had two generators offline since a fire in 2021.
“This is a bitter blow for regional Queenslanders already dealing with the biggest cost-of-living pressures in the nation,” Treasury spokesman David Janetzki said.
“Minister de Brenni said multiple times the failures at Callide would have no impact on Queenslanders’ power prices.
“He’s now been proved to be embarrassingly wrong.”
The Queensland Conservation Council said the rise would drive up the cost of living in the regions and risked sending the most vulnerable households into energy poverty.
“The pressure on global energy prices from the war in Ukraine may be out of our hands but the Queensland government has the responsibility and solutions that can help put the brakes on soaring local energy bills,” director Dave Copeman said in a statement.
The council is a member of the Power Together Coalition, which is demanding more funding for renewable energy to tackle the cost of living crisis.
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