South Australia will have highest power prices in the world after July 1 increases

FROM Saturday, South Australia will have the most expensive electricity prices in the world, an expert says, as a round of power price hikes come into force.

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SOUTH Australia will this weekend overtake Denmark with the highest electricity prices in the world.

Utilities expert Bruce Mountain has prepared calculations for a interstate government inquiry which show, because of a round of $300-per-year increases from July 1, the state will leapfrog the notoriously energy-expensive northern European country for the first time.

Mr Mountain is director of the firm Carbon and Energy Markets, and said South Australia and other southern Australian states were suffering from very high prices.

He said final calculations on the average electricity bill in SA would be given to an interstate government after the so-called “big three” electricity companies in this state — Origin Energy, AGL and Energy Australia — begin price increases on customers of above $300 per year from this Saturday.

“My estimates are that for a representative customer in SA, they will be paying slightly more than the representative customer in Denmark, which has historically had the highest electricity process in the world after taxes,’’ he said.

Mr Mountain said he had been inundated with phone calls from concerned South Australians after he made the revelations on radio station FIVEaa.

“This has gone off like a fireball because of the concerns in the community,’’ he said.

Mr Mountain said debate about the impact of green energy as a cause of high prices was a “phony war” and the main reason for the problem was weak control of electricity companies by government and government bodies, which did not protect the consumer.