One of the foundation customers for the $2.5 billion CopperString 2.0 electricity transmission project in north Queensland says they would be “ecstatic” to get power prices even as much as two-thirds higher than anticipated as it would be far less than they are currently being slugged by APA Group.

The customer said they were currently paying more than $200 a megawatt-hour for electricity from APA, the monopoly supplier in the Mount Isa region, which is opposing the proposed construction of the 1110-kilometre CopperString project to connect it into the national grid.