Nuke scare campaign falls flat as voters blame renewables for bills going ‘through the roof’

Energy bills were meant to be dropping, but Aussies have copped a $750 price hike. Now new polling reveals who they are blaming.

Australian voters are blaming the Albanese government’s renewable energy strategy for sending power bills higher, potentially “bringing more swing seats into play” at the next election, new polling has found.

According to research revealed by research firm RedBridge, 54 per cent of all voters agree with the statement that Labor’s rush to increase the amount of wind and solar in the grid is driving energy bills “through the roof.”

While Labor came to power promising to bring power bills down by $275, so far households have seen their energy rates go up by around $750 per year.

The firm also found that by and large voters were not buying scare campaigns around Peter Dutton’s plan to build nuclear reactors to help bring down power prices while meeting net zero targets.

While just 29 per cent of Labor voters agreed that the government’s tight timelines and high targets were pushing up energy costs, a whopping 79 per cent of Coalition voters and 40 per cent of Greens voters also agreed.

Wind farms and other renewables projects are being blamed for rising power bills.

And in a sign that anxiety over power bills is widespread across the economy, even those on relatively high wages revealed their concern.

Some 59 per cent of respondents in households on less than $1,000 per week agreeing with the sentiment, not much higher than the 52 per cent of those on more than $3,000 a week who agreed

Those who said they were under a “great deal of stress” financially were also among those most likely to agree.

And in a further worrying sign for the government, which has vowed to continue pushing the renewable energy transition while campaigning against what it calls the Coalition’s “risky” strategy to build nuclear reactors, only a minority think nuclear reactors are dangerous.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been accused of getting his knowledge of small modular reactors from The Simpsons.

Just 35 per cent of those who responded agreed with the statement “nuclear energy is unsafe.”

RedBridge director Tony Barry said, “These numbers show public support for renewable energy is softening and Labor’s messaging is failing to land.”

“This is in part because governments and the renewable energy sector are speaking to Australians in a language they don’t recognise or understand. But it’s also because governments and the sector are sermonising about the personal and community benefits of renewables but failing to provide any corroborative evidence.”

“The risk for Labor is if energy prices continue to increase it will bring more swing seats into play and spread the electoral map.”