Fresh price pain: How much more you’ll pay for power from August

SA households are facing power bill hikes of more than $500 a year, with energy companies revealing they’re about to increase prices – but some will be shielded.

South Australian households on popular variable power contracts face average bill hikes worth up to $565 from August, with energy giants writing to customers about the fresh price pain.

In a sign that the cost-of-living squeeze is biting hard, two of the state’s largest electricity retailers have revealed they will freeze prices or provide bill credits for battling customers on financial hardship schemes – shielding them from the carnage.

One leading social services group has now called for other major providers to follow suit and provide extra assistance for those in need.

The Advertiser can reveal Origin Energy and AGL are the first two providers to release new market deals since regulated price increases were approved last month, with both companies saying it will mean an average residential bill will increase by almost 30 per cent. This will mean an extra $565 for an average AGL household bill and $405 for Origin customers.

SA households on variable power contracts face increases of almost 30 per cent on an average residential bill.

Small businesses face a similar percentage hit, which will cost an average $1133 next financial year for Origin customers. About 92 per cent of households and 84 per cent of businesses in SA are on market contracts for electricity, which will start to increase from August 1, or when existing contracts expire.

Origin, which supplies electricity to almost 500,000 customers in Victoria, said a range of factors had influenced the decision, including what was happening in the wider energy market.

In 2022, outages at coal-fired power stations and soaring coal and gas prices sparked an energy cost crisis that forced the market operator to introduce a price cap.

But generators were entitled to compensation for the caps and the costs from the saga, including high contract prices for generation, are now being passed on to households.

But head of retail, John Briskin, said the company would wipe up to $45m in national revenue by freezing prices at 2022 rates for households on hardship programs.

“Increasing prices is never a decision we take lightly, especially at a time many people are struggling with higher cost of living,” he said. “We are protecting customers in our Power On hardship program by shielding them from these price changes so that they won’t be impacted.”

A spokeswoman for AGL, which is the state’s biggest retailer, said it would also help vulnerable families with $70m in customer support over the next two years.

This includes providing those in their Staying Connected hardship program with up to $400 in bill credits in winter to manage price hikes.

The spokeswoman said the decision to increase prices for market contract customers was based on a range of factors including wholesale prices, network charges, retail operating costs and customer affordability.

The new hikes come amid soaring gas prices, which could add several hundreds of dollars to bills for larger households this winter.

St Vincent de Paul Society policy manager Gavin Dufty said support for people facing energy hardship was welcomed and “we encourage all retailers to do the same”.

“Anyone who is financially struggling with their energy bills should call their retailer immediately and ask for assistance,” he said.

Mr Dufty said people should “shop around” when coming off contracts, and be mindful that price hikes not hit straight away for many families.

He also urged people to be conscious of gas use in the colder months.

The new cost of living blow follows recent interest rate rises by the Reserve Bank that have added hundreds of dollars a month to average mortgage repayments amid soaring grocery, rent, and petrol prices