MPs seize on power hardship to renew coal push

A record number of households are being forced onto hardship programs to pay off their electricity bills as they struggle to cope with rising power prices.

A group of Coalition backbenchers have seized on the new data to bolster their push for the government to help build new coal-fired power plants, claiming it would help drive down prices.

The Australian Energy Regulator's latest electricity retailer report, released this week, shows 80,437 households had sought help with their bills since June 30. That was up 17 per cent, from 68,832, for the same period the previous year.

"It is a significant increase in the number of people requiring assistance, suggesting that more people are struggling to pay their bills," the regulator said.

The revelation has sparked fresh calls from government MPs for it to revive its ditched "big stick" energy policies, which were shelved in the face of opposition from Labor and crossbenchers.

Queensland Nationals MP Ken O'Dowd said the government needed to reintroduce its energy policies and support more coal-fired power to bring down bills.

"People and businesses are entering hardship, they can't pay bills because of high power prices. A new coal-fired power station will help drive down costs," he told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

"The government has got the right policies; we've got to drive forward with them."

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the government had developed new policies to cut power prices.

"I am aware of reports of electricity customers entering hardship programs. It is essential these customers get the support they need," Mr Taylor said.

"The Morrison government has demanded the big energy companies put their customers first."

Hardship programs are repayment plans run by retailers designed to support households that are unable to pay their power bills on time. They are used instead of disconnecting their electricity.

The Australian Energy Regulator report found the average level of energy debt for households accessing the assistance programs on the east coast - excluding Victoria - had nearly doubled in the past four years, from $575 in 2014 to $1146 in the latest numbers.

The Australian Energy Market Commission has forecast average annual power bills of $1294 for NSW in 2018-19 and $1375 for Queensland households, while Victorians are forecast to have average power bills of $1096 for 2019.

Just one in four households under the energy regulator's jurisdiction – which includes NSW, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania – are successfully completing the hardship programs. This is still an improvement on the 21 per cent completing the programs last year.

Victoria is not included as it has its own energy regulator, the Essential Services Commission, which said last month that the number of households entering hardship programs in that state rose 25 per cent over the 2018 financial year.

St Vincent de Paul's policy and research manager, Gavin Dufty, said these programs could help households get back on track and cut energy debts.

"We're seeing more people struggling to pay their bills due to the rising price of electricity," Mr Dufty said.

"While it's great more people are getting help, for some, getting into a hardship program is just delaying the inevitable [disconnection]."

The AER has been pushing households to enter their retailer's hardship programs as energy debt levels rise, rolling out a new safety net to create a minimum standard to protect struggling customers.

"We know that more people are going into these [hardship] programs, but fewer people are successfully completing them," AER chairman Paula Conboy has previously said.

"This is why the AER is doing more work in this area to establish a 'hardship guideline' to further strengthen the protections available to consumers."

Tasmanians have the highest level of hardship debt for the year to date, at $1605. South Australia, which has the highest electricity bills in the country, had an average debt of $1548.

The AER said Tasmania had a higher rate of electricity hardship debt as households in the state had less gas compared to other states, so had to spend more on electricity.