Bill relief in $225 million state budget cash splash

Payments of $250 to help pay power bills will be gifted to almost one million Victorian households. See if you’re eligible.

An estimated $225 million has been put aside in the state budget for payments to 950,000 Victorian households.

Almost 1 million Victorian households are set to pocket $250 in bill relief in a state budget cash splash.

The Herald Sun can reveal an estimated $225 million has been put aside in next week’s state budget for payments to 950,000 Victorian households.

Concession card holders including anyone receiving JokSeeker, youth allowance or pension payments will be eligible for the one-off payments.

Payments under the Power Saving Bonus package, to be announced on Tuesday, will be available from February 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022.

All pension types will be eligible include age pension, disability support pension, carer payment and single parenting payment.

The bonus will be delivered through the Victorian Energy Compare website and payments will be provided by electronic funds transfer.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said eligible households could only apply once for a payment.

All applications would need to be received before the program closed in 2022.

“This pandemic has been hard enough without worrying about whether you can pay the power bill,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

“Not only will we help cover that cost – we’ll help Victorians make their home more efficient and fight climate change.”

Many Victorians were left reeling from bill shock after copping markedly higher electricity costs this year due to COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions.

An analysis of Victorian energy bills found households were being slugged up to an extra $680 a year.

The rise in costs was blamed on stage four restrictions that confined people to their homes 22 hours a day, which significantly pushed up their power bills.

Analysis by financial services firm Canstar Blue found some electricity bills had risen by up to 45 per cent.

It followed the rise in the usage of appliances including computers, televisions, cooktops and heaters.

The analysis looked at the most common household appliances used and the daily increases per month including 10 hours of computer and monitor use, 10 hours of television, 45 minutes of electricity stovetop use, two hours of heater use and two hours of lighting use.

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