Cost of living Qld: Thousands struggling with bills on hardship plans

An increasing number of Queenslanders are struggling to pay their bills as the cost of living bites, slipping into hardship on everything from electricity and gas to water, home loans and credit cards.

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An increasing number of Queenslanders are struggling to pay their bills as the cost of living bites, slipping into hardship on everything from electricity and gas to water, home loans and credit cards.

The biggest stress comes from gas and electricity, with almost 32,000 Queenslanders currently unable to afford their bills, taking out financial assistance plans with their providers, according to data from the Australian Energy Regulator.

The quarterly report found the number of Sunshine State residents who couldn’t pay for energy was skyrocketing, up almost 11,000 from last year.

The data showed Queenslanders were facing even greater financial difficulties now than during the peak of Covid, with 13,000 more unable to pay for gas and electricity in 2024 than in 2020-21.

Of those experiencing financial hardship, their average electricity bill debt was just over $1200, while the average gas debt was $569.

More than half of hardship customers were also receiving energy concessions, such as payment extensions.

Energy Australia chief customer officer Mark Brownfield revealed the provider was receiving roughly 1000 calls a day from customers seeking bill relief or payment assistance – three times pre-Covid-19 levels.

While more than 45,000 of the business’s 1.6 million customers across Australia had accepted some form of support from its $30m hardship program, which included everything from installing energy efficient appliances in homes to working with customers to put them on the most affordable plan.

Energy bills are the biggest concern to Queenslanders.

Meanwhile, AGL Energy has spent more than $35m in the past 12 months supporting its customers nationally experiencing financial difficulties.

An AGL spokeswoman said there had been a significant increase in customers entering hardship, but much of this was a result of them contacting the energy supplier earlier to try to get on top of their situation.

Alinta Energy said more than 3100 Queenslanders were on its hardship plan, receiving everything from energy assessments to free appliance swaps.

“Compared to previous years, we are seeing more customers participate in Alinta Assist,” a spokeswoman said.

Red Energy’s Rhys McKimmie said many customers were slipping into hardship for the first time and didn’t recognise their vulnerability.

However, he believed the new $1000 Queensland government electricity bill rebate, combined with the $300 from the Australian government energy bill relief fund extension would be extremely helpful to struggling customers.

But electricity and gas are not the only bills Queenslanders are grappling with.

Urban Utilities received about 10,000 requests for payment extensions in the past financial year, while about 1700 were on its hardship program.

The Commonwealth Bank has also reported the number of hardship cases for those with home loans, credit cards and personal loans increased 9 per cent from June to December 2023. Westpac data also found an increasing number of Queenslanders were falling behind in their mortgages.

Originally published as Cost of living Qld: Thousands struggling with bills on hardship plans