Power price relief to save Victorian households hundreds from July
Most Victorian households will save as much as $300 a year on their power bills if they switch to a new no-frills default offer.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Most Victorian households will save as much as $300 a year on their power bills if they switch to a new no-frills default offer.
The regulated “fair price” for electricity, brought in by the Andrews Government, must be offered by retailers to their customers from July 1, delivering major savings for families and businesses.
ANDREWS UNVEILS PLAN TO DELIVER CHEAPER DEFAULT DEALS
ENERGY GIANTS FORCED TO TELL CUSTOMERS ABOUT DISCOUNTS
About 145,000 residential customers on “ridiculously overpriced” standing offers will automatically move to the default offer, delivering savings of between $390 and $520 a year for the typical household.
Bigger families on standing offers will save as much as $890 on their annual power bills, which have soared by more than 20 per cent in just two years, while smaller apartment residents will receive discounts of up to $320.
Households and businesses which are not currently on standing offers will have to contact their retailer to access the default offer, although energy companies are now forced to tell their customers on their bill if a better deal is available.
Essential Services Commission chair Ron Ben-David said he expected most Victorians would save between $100 and $300 by switching to the default offer.
Dr Ben-David said he hadn’t “received any Christmas cards this year” from the big energy retailers this year as he developed the default offer so that they could only make “a fair profit”.
He said he had been raising concerns for several years that the retail energy market was “not delivering fair outcomes” for consumers.
“Energy affordability is clearly a problem for Victorian households and these savings are obviously going to make a big difference for many customers,” Dr Ben-David said.
The discounts delivered by the default offer will vary depending on where Victorians live and work.
The federal government is also developing its own version of the default offer, and while it will not apply in Victoria, Dr Ben-David said it would likely be up to $250 more expensive for the typical household than the commission’s price.
The commission’s default offer will now be the subject of consultation for a month before a final price recommendation is delivered to the government on May 3 so it can be available to customers from July 1 — as long as legislation passes parliament in the coming weeks.
The price will then be reviewed in January each year, although Dr Ben-David said the commission “would intervene to reset the price during the year” if necessary.