A report released by the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) last week shows Ergon customers can expect significant price rises on their electricity bills.
The QCA report shows a typical family is facing, from 1 July, an increase of $429 or 28.7 per cent on its household electricity bill and a typical small business is facing another increase of $511 or 26.8 per cent on its electricity bill.
Contributing to the $429 increase for a typical family is a $395 increase in energy costs, a $63 rise in retail costs, a $37 rise in network costs and a $65 decrease in other costs.
The QCA report says the energy cost rise has been caused by higher gas and coal prices and uncertainties around the availability and reliability of coal-fired power plants and their impacts on the supply–demand balance in Queensland.
Despite the rise in general cost, the blow will be softened for those with solar panels.
From Saturday, 1 July, the solar feed-in tariff in regional Queensland will increase by 44.5 per cent to 13.441 cents per kilowatt an hour for power exported to the grid from eligible solar systems.
This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 15 June 2023.
