Victorians to be slugged with post-Christmas power bill price hike
Victorians are set to receive an unwelcome gift after Christmas, with energy retailers set to increase power prices from January 1. Find out how much your new energy bill will cost.
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Victorian households will be slugged with massive price hikes on their power bills from next month, with families facing extra costs of at least $120 in 2020.
In an unwelcome Christmas present, the Herald Sun can reveal electricity retailers are jacking up prices from January 1 after holding back on bill increases this year.
Origin, one of the big three retailers, will lift prices on their discounted market offers by 7.7 per cent — costing the average user an extra $122.
Popular mid-tier retailer Simply Energy says its 270,000 residential electricity customers are expected to see bills rise an average 10.7 per cent, or $159 a year.
EnergyAustralia is telling customers to lock in their rates now to “beat the price rise”, but is yet to reveal what the increase will be, while customers are also waiting on AGL to detail their 2020 deals.
And further pain could be on the way, as the nation’s energy market operator prepares for the Yallourn coal-fired power station to close as early as 2026, which would likely force up prices and threaten the reliability of the Victoria’s power supply.
Next year’s price increases mirror the 7.8 per cent rise mandated by the Essential Services Commission on Victoria’s new default power price, which was brought in this year to provide a competitive base offer for consumers trapped on expensive and outdated contracts.
In better news, Origin is keeping gas prices unchanged for the second year in a row, while Simply Energy says its customers should expect a 5.1 per cent increase totalling $63.
The retailers say rising wholesale and network charges are behind the residential price rise.
St Vincent de Paul Society policy and research manager Gavin Dufty said the increases would be a shock to household budgets after “a year of respite” on power prices.
“These price rises will come right at the time of the post-Christmas credit card crunch, and back to school costs,” Mr Dufty said.
“It will put more pressure on the cost of living.”
He urged people to carefully compare deals in mid-January once all retailers had adjusted rates.
“Make sure you are on the best price and not getting dudded,” he said.
“Select a plan that suits your situation. This may be a guaranteed discount without conditions; an offer with conditions such as pay on time, direct debit, or electronic billing; or a fixed rate.”
Origin retail executive general manager Jon Briskin encouraged customers having trouble managing their bills to contact them to discuss available payment plans and support.
“We know that some customers are doing it tough, and that is why we are focused on providing support and price relief to our most vulnerable customers including an automatic 5 per cent discount on the (Victorian default offer) for concession card holders,” he said.
Some Origin customers on non-discounted market offers will only see their bills go up by 0.3 per cent next year.
Simply Energy said it would inform customers if they could save by switching to a different deal.
“The increase will vary by each customer’s location, tariff type, discount and usage,” the retailer said.
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It comes as the Australian Energy Market Operator will on Thursday release its latest road map for the nation’s energy grid, predicting a massive 30 gigawatts of large-scale renewable energy will be needed to replace coal-fired power by 2040.
The integrated system plan says the operator assumes the Latrobe Valley’s Yallourn station — which is supposed to stay open until 2032 — will close as early as 2026.
It calls for urgent work on a new power interconnector to New South Wales so Victoria can offset the closure of Yallourn by accessing electricity from the new Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project.