$175 relief as Queensland wholesale power prices quadruple

Queenslanders will receive a one-off cost of living rebate of $175 towards their skyrocketing power bills after it was revealed the state’s wholesale electricity prices quadrupled in the first three months of the year compared to the same time in 2021.

Queenslanders will have $175 slashed off their next power bill under a one-off cost-of-living rebate announced by the Palaszczuk government.

The announcement came on the same day new national reports revealed the cost of electricity in the state had soared to the highest in the nation, with families and small businesses to feel part of the impact from July 1.

The Australian Energy Regulator, in a double-whammy of reports released on Thursday, revealed wholesale electricity prices in Queensland had quadrupled in the first three months of the year compared to the same time in 2021.

And the prices will remain “the most expensive” in the region over the next quarter.

Australian Energy Regulator chair Clare Savage.

The soaring price of wholesale energy has resulted in the so-called standing offer — or cap on how much households that don’t shop around can be charged for power — increasing by at least $165 a year for southeast Queensland households in nominal terms.

According to the AER, the La Nina weather pattern in Queensland — and the increased warmth and humidity it brought — was a major factor behind electricity demand reaching “near record levels”.

AER chair Clare Savage said Queensland also had “the most acute situation in terms of the outages” at power stations, which in turn pushed up Queensland wholesale energy prices to levels unseen in New South Wales, Victoria or South Australia.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday morning revealed the state would bump a $50 rebate announced in February to $175 to help Queenslanders amid rising cost of living pressures.

“In February we announced Queensland households would receive $50 off their power bills later this year because Queenslanders own their power assets – the generators, the transmission and the distribution,” she said.

“With wholesale prices going up due to global instability, we have moved to raise it to $175 because we know the pressure Queenslanders face.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the rebate on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The rebate will cost the government $385m, and is the fourth paid over four years totalling $1.185bn.

Standing offers — officially the Default Market Offer — does not determine the size of most Australians’ energy bills as only a small portion of people are on them, though it is seen as an influential benchmark for big retailers as they set their own offers from July 1.

There are nearly 160,000 southeast Queensland households — or 10 per cent of consumers — that are on the standing market offer, with 20 per cent or 21,686 small businesses in the region also on the default price.

If those households and businesses shopped around for better deals, they could save up to $456 or $1134 a year respectively according to the AER.

Labor’s Chris Bowen, expected to be sworn in as Australia’s next Energy Minister, blamed the former Coalition government, its nine years’ worth of policy settings and international forces for high energy prices.

Originally published as $175 relief as Queensland wholesale power prices quadruple