Kingston Drycleaners fear skyrocketing power prices

The owner of a local dry cleaners is concerned for the future of his business after power prices have increased by a whopping 30 per cent since last year.

Kingston Dry Cleaners owner David Parkinson. Picture: Chris Kidd

Kingston Drycleaners fears its next energy bill after prices skyrocketed since signing its contract with Aurora last year.

“My bill used to be around $2,400 a month and now it’s up close to $3000,” Owner David Parkinson said.

“I was told by Aurora it would probably only go up by 12 per cent and it’s gone up more.”

Mr Parkinson’s power prices went up by 30 per cent since last year, now costing him $36,000 a year.

As his power contract expires this year, Mr Parkinson fears when he has to negotiate.

“My contract runs out in the middle of the year, so I’m just worried, I don’t want it to go up another 30 per cent,

“As expenses go up, I’ve got to do more work myself. At the moment I’m doing 6 days a week just to keep on top of things.”

Mr Parkinson said there are many other businesses doing it tough.

“I can’t work any harder, so you think ‘I’d better put someone else on,’ but then you’ve got a wage, you’re never getting in front.”

“You’ve got to do a lot yourself and I haven’t got the energy like I used to have.

After being in the industry for 35 years, Mr Parkinson said it’s always been a hard expense to pay.

“It just means we probably have to keep putting the prices up to compensate, because there’s not really another way.

“That’s the biggest fear.”

Shadow Energy Minister Dean Winter said Labor’s energy policy would support local businesses.

Labor's Dean Winter says Labor’s energy police will support local businesses.

“We are calling for the Government to re-establish the electricity rebate scheme that was in place in 2018, so that Tasmanian businesses pay Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power.

“For households and small businesses, Tasmanian Labor has a policy of capping power price increases at 2.5 per cent each year for the next three years,” Mr Winter said.

Minister for Energy Guy Barnett described Labor’s promise as “Reckless,” and would impose a $50 million additional cost on the Tasmanian budget.

“We’ve outlined the energy saver loan scheme and released a $50 million scheme, that will help Tasmanians who avail themselves with that scheme to keep the costs of energy down,” Minister Barnett said.

“We’ve now added plans for a further $50 million energy saver loan scheme for commercial and industrial businesses.”