‘Hard to survive’: Local pizza shop owner bemoans rising power prices

The owner of a local pizza shop says rising power prices are inflicting immense pain on small businesses across the state. See the government’s response.

Labor's Dean Winter says the Oppositions policy to cap power price increases would help local businesses.

The owner of a popular pizzeria in Hobart’s northern suburbs has bemoaned rising power prices across the state, saying they are inflicting immense pain on small businesses.

Badri Ram Awal, the owner of Soph Slice Gourmet Pizza Bar at Moonah, said his power bill had increased by 12 per cent this year, which had made it “hard to survive” as a business owner.

“Every single business is impacted by power [prices] and other utilities,” he said.

“Our expenses are going up by around 20 per cent, including increase of salaries … and food costs.”

Mr Awal said he couldn’t increase the prices of his pizzas to offset his ballooning power bill because “our sales are already down [and] if we increase [prices], we might lose a lot [of money] again”.

Labor energy spokesman Dean Winter said the Opposition’s policy to cap power price increases at 2.5 per cent per annum for the next three years would help businesses like Mr Awal’s.

“The [state] government itself says that Hydro [Tasmania] is now making $50m out of the massive windfall gain that we’ve seen over the last 12 months,” he said.

“And instead of Hydro keeping that, we’re saying to the government, ‘You should pass that $50m back to businesses and households across Tasmania who are doing it tough’.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff said Labor was “full of magic puddings”.

“Tasmanians will not forget that at the same time [Labor] cost 10,000 jobs in Tasmania under the Labor-Green government, at the same time they cut nurses out of hospitals, at the same time, of course, they tried to close 20 schools, people’s power prices went up in Tasmania by 65 per cent,” he said.

Mr Rockliff said the government would “be there in the corner of more vulnerable people with targeted [energy] assistance … for those on low and fixed incomes”.

Originally published as ‘Hard to survive’: Local pizza shop owner bemoans rising power prices