Annastacia Palaszczuk announces $175 discount on next power bill

Power bills will be slashed by $175 under a cost of living rebate announced by the Palaszczuk government this morning, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk saying it would make life 'a little bit easier'.  

Power bills will be slashed by $175 under a cost of living rebate announced by the Palaszczuk government. 

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this morning revealed the state would act to ease the high cost of living pressures, with a $175 rebate provided on electricity bills.

“In February we announced Queensland households would receive $50 off their power bills later this year because Queenslanders own their power assets – the generators, the transmission and the distribution,” she said.“With wholesale prices going up due to global instability, we have moved to raise it to $175 because we know the pressure Queenslanders face.

"$175 might not sound like much to some people but for those facing those hard choices it is a help.

The rebate will cost the government $385m, and is the fourth paid over four years totalling $1.185bn. 

"This dividend is not available in states that sold off their electricity assets," Ms Palaszczuk said. 

"This dividend offsets strong economic headwinds impacting electricity prices."

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

It comes amid a warning South East Queensland households and small businesses will pay hundreds of dollars more on electricity from July this year after wholesale electricity prices quadrupled.

The Australian Energy Regulator, in a double-whammy of reports released on Thursday, revealed wholesale electricity prices in Queensland had quadrupled in the first three months of the year compared to the same time in 2021.

And the prices will remain “the most expensive” in the region over the next quarter.

The soaring price of wholesale energy has resulted in the so-called standing offer—or cap on how much households that don’t shop around can be charged for power—increasing by at least $165 a year for southeast Queensland households in nominal terms.

“Residential customers in south-east Queensland will see increases above expected inflation of 5.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent (11.3 per cent to 12.6 per cent increases in nominal terms),” the AER stated.

For small businesses in the region, the annual cost of power bills may rise by about $705 a year.

According to the AER, the La Nina weather pattern in Queensland—and the increased warmth and humidity it brought- was a major factor behind electricity demand reaching “near record levels”.

“This high demand was met with supply issues caused by planned and unplanned generator outages and limits on the Queensland-NSW Interconnector (QNI),” the AER stated.

“(This) caused high prices, particularly in the evenings between 6pm and 9pm. As a result, Queensland prices during this evening time slot averaged over $200/MWh in the quarter.”

According to the AER, factors including a reduction in thermal general due to unplanned outages, higher coal and gas costs, slowing investment of new capacity, the war in Ukraine and extreme weather in Queensland disrupting coal supplies had led to higher forecast prices.

There are nearly 160,000 southeast Queensland households—or 10 per cent of consumers—that are on the standing market offer, with 20 per cent or 21,686 small businesses in the region also on the default price.

If those households and businesses shopped around for better deals, they could save up to $456 or $1134 a year respectively.

Originally published as Annastacia Palaszczuk announces $175 discount on next power bill

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