Electricity price increases: Australia sheds title of having the world’s highest costs as European charges soar

Australians love being top of the world — but not when it comes to electricity costs. It’s a title we have finally lost, as power prices in other parts of the world rise at astronomical rates.

It will be little consolation to households bracing for a 56 per cent increase in power prices before the end of next year but Australia has shed the title of having the most expensive electricity in the world.

In fact, analysis of data obtained by The Daily Telegraph from the International Energy Agency reveals Australia was alone among comparable western nations in experiencing no overall electricity cost increase in the seven years to the start of 2022.

In that time, bills in Norway surged by 130 per cent. Tariffs in the UK leapt by 38 per cent. Canadians’ costs rose 36 per cent and New Zealanders endured an 18 per cent jump. There were double-digit increases in Germany and France as well.

The country with the next-best result after Australia was the US, with a seven per cent increase.

The IEA’s results did not include Ireland. But charges there also rose between 2015 and the end of last year, other data shows.

EV charging stations in Norway, where prices have soared. Picture: AFP

Germany has the highest prices, the IEA data shows.

Consultant Bruce Mountain, who has previously prepared international power price comparisons for the Energy Users Association of Australia, said we were no longer the most expensive nation for electricity “as we were, absolutely, in 2016-17.”

Mr Mountain said between then and 2021 Australians had benefited from a stabilisation in two large components of bills — network charges and wholesale energy costs.

He noted that “climate policies have been significant” sources of price pressure in “most European countries” along with gas costs.

Federal Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, who was energy minister during the period when Australian prices finally began to fall, said: “When the Coalition was in government, we were laser-focused on delivering affordable, reliable and secure energy for Australian households and businesses.”

“Families and businesses rely on affordable and reliable energy to grow and thrive and our plan for cheaper power worked.

“Now under Labor, its own budget forecasts show electricity bills will rise by 56 per cent over the next two years, despite promising a $275 reduction during the election campaign,” Mr Taylor said.

“Of course global factors are playing a role in this, which is why having a plan to deal with it is so crucial.

Former energy minister Angus Taylor credits the federal Coalition with driving electricity prices down. Picture: Getty Images

“Unfortunately, there is no plan to deal with the current energy crisis from the government,” he said.

“Families and businesses are hurting and are looking to the government for help but instead of action all they’re getting are daily thought bubbles.”

With many households already enduring power price increases of 15-20 per cent since July, in parliament on Thursday the Opposition asked Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen to apologise on behalf of the Albanese government “for misleading Australians” over the $275 saving promise.

Mr Bowen said the wholesale price of power on the day Mr Taylor started as energy minister in 2018 was $92.63 per megawatt-hour and $241/MWh on the day of the federal election on May 21.

It was Mr Taylor and the Opposition who needed to apologise “for 10 years of denial, delay and dysfunction,” Mr Bowen said.

Originally published as Electricity price increases: Australia sheds title of having the world’s highest costs as European charges soar