Electricity prices: AGL hikes NSW bills by $300 a year; gas to go up by $73

For nearly one million NSW households, AGL is hiking electricity prices by an average of 17.5 per cent, while gas bills will rise by 8.8 per cent.

EXCLUSIVE

Hundreds of thousands of AGL customers in NSW face a $300 a year increase to their electricity bills, with prices to rise by an average of 17.5 per cent from August.

The giant energy retailer is also lifting gas prices by 8.8 per cent, or $73 annually.

The increases have emerged as the new federal Labor government fudged on whether it was still promising to cut power bills by $275 by 2025.

AGL’s electricity price hike is larger than the hike recently announced by one of the other big three retailers, Origin, which is raising prices by 14 per cent on average from July 1.

But it is not as large as some smaller retailers which do not have their own generation and are highly exposed to the chaotic wholesale market. One Big Switch, which monitors prices, has identified increases by minnows of as much as 285 per cent.

AGL customers in NSW face a $300 a year increase to their electricity bills. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

AGL has about 800,000 electricity customers in NSW, or about one in every four households.

Not all customers will experience a 17.5 per cent rise, which equates to a bill increase of $298 a year. For some, it will be even larger. The Daily Telegraph has seen emails indicating price rises of as much as 21 per cent.

In gas, AGL has a 43 per cent share of the market, with around 700,000 customers.

An AGL spokesman said the company “understands that rising energy prices will place additional pressure on some households and businesses, and we encourage customers to contact us to discuss the different payment and support options we offer”.

The other big electricity retailer, EnergyAustralia, is yet to say how much its prices will rise; the same goes for second-tier providers Alinta and Simply. These three were contacted for comment.

AGL has about 800,000 electricity customers in NSW.

Power costs are skyrocketing due to high demand — as economies recover from the pandemic and because of recent cold weather — along with limited supply, for reasons including sanctions on Russia and outages at local coal-fired power stations.

Queenslanders contracted with AGL for electricity face an average increase of 18 per cent or $275 annually. The company has about 500,000 customers in the Sunshine State.

In South Australia, the typical rise will be 8.4 per cent or $155 a year for 400,000 or so AGL customers.

For Victorians, the average increase will be 5.6 per cent or $80 a year. AGL has around 750,000 customers in Victoria.

As in NSW, these hikes will kick in from August 1.

The customer number figures come from the Australian Energy Regulator’s 2021 State of the Energy Markets report.

Matraville mother Paula Sissian-Turnbull said she was working more days to boost the family’s income in response to the rising cost of living.

They are also modifying meals, buying key groceries on sale and trying to keep the heater usage to a minimum as electricity prices soar.

“We are modifying our lifestyle to accommodate the cost of living going up,” she said.

Meanwhile in Canberra, new Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen indicated that recent developments — including an 18-month delay to Snowy Hydro 2.0 and big increases in default electricity prices — were making the Albanese government’s bill reduction task harder.

Labor went to the election saying it would increase the amount of renewables in the energy market, thereby reducing power prices by $275 for homes in 2025.

But at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Bowen suggested the policy goal was to put downward pressure on prices and that “figures will move around”.

“It is truer than ever that renewables are the cheapest form of energy,” Mr Bowen said. “So it is more important than ever to get them into the system and that is exactly what our policies will do.

“They will achieve downward pressure on power prices. Of course figures will move around.

“Since the modelling was done we’ve seen Snowy 2.0 running late, we’ve seen the default market offer going up, but I’m very, very confident that the policy impact which we modelled will be met and that is downward pressure on prices through more renewables in the system.”

Federal Opposition Climate Change and Energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said “Labor committed to deliver a cut to household power bills of $275 by 2025, and that is precisely what families and businesses across the country are now expecting from the Albanese Government.”

Are you an AGL customer? How will this affect you? We want to know. Email [e-mail]