Power bills set to soar on Carbon Tax

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NSW's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) released a draft report on Thursday that recommends an average electricity price hike of 16 per cent across New South Wales.

This could mean an additional $338 per year for households. For small business owners in city areas this could mean a $439 increase.

Highlighting the impact of the carbon tax, IPART said the carbon tax accounted for about half of the proposed increase from July 1.

Mr Abbott told reporters the rise was further evidence of how the carbon tax would threaten jobs and add to the cost of living. Specifically Mr Abbott was quoted as saying "I notice that we've just seen the announcement in NSW that power prices will go up by a average of 16 per cent on July 1," and “This is more evidence that the last thing this country needs now the world's biggest carbon tax."

This IPART report and the commentary from Tony Abbott highlight the need to Australians to quickly look at ways to reduce their energy usage before they begin to feel the pressure of these price increases.

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13/6/2012

Power bills are set to rocket again in NSW, with some customers facing increases of up to $555 a year for electricity and $142 a year for gas.

The carbon tax and upgrades to the electricity network have been blamed for the hikes, which are about two per cent higher than draft recommendations made in April.

It comes on top of 10 and 17 per cent increases over the past two financial years.

NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson says families need support to cope with the increases.

"Mums and dads are already struggling to pay their electricity bills," he told reporters.

Country Energy customers face the largest increases with average electricity bills rising $555 a year for small businesses and $427 for householders.

Energy Australia residential customers will cop a $364 a year rise and those with Integral Energy face shelling out an extra $208 a year.

Gas bills for ActewAGL customers near the ACT/NSW border and in Shoalhaven, on the NSW south coast, will rise by up to $142 a year.

And AGL customers will see their gas bills rise $106 a year.

NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher blamed the carbon tax, federal government renewable energy targets and the NSW solar bonus scheme.

"Families and businesses across NSW will be devastated by the latest round of price rises," he said in a statement.

Announcing the hikes on Wednesday, IPART chairman Dr Peter Boxall said about half of the increases could be attributed to the continuing rise in costs faced by retailers and the electricity network.

"The other half is due to increasing wholesale electricity costs faced by the retailers resulting from the introduction of a carbon price on emissions from electricity generators," he said.

But Dr Boxall said federal and state government energy assistance packages would help offset the rises.

"Our analysis indicates that the commonwealth government's assistance package will adequately compensate the large majority of low-income households for the impact of the carbon price on their electricity bills."

Mr Robertson questioned whether the budget rebates from the state government would go far enough.

"Barry O'Farrell is selling off our electricity generators - that's going to push power prices even higher," he said.

"The rebate is not going to be enough to offset the increased costs that are going to be felt right across NSW."

Small businesses would be among those hardest hit, said CEO of the NSW Business Chamber Stephen Cartwright.