Canberrans are to pay more for their electricity with the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) increasing standing offer tariffs by an average of 4.15 per cent from 1 July.
Senior Commissioner at ICRC, Joe Dimasi said the increase was lower than the rate of inflation and represented a decline of 2.7 per cent in real terms.
“The ACT will have the smallest price increase among jurisdictions in the national electricity market,” Mr Dimasi said.
“The average annual bill for Canberrans on standing offers will be the lowest compared to the default market offers faced by customers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, where residential customers are facing increases in the order of 20 per cent to 27 per cent,” he said.
“The maximum average increase of 4.15 per cent will translate to an annual bill increase of $75 for an average residential customer consuming 6,500kWh.
Mr Dimasi said for an average non-residential customer consuming 25,000kWh, the increase in the annual bill would be $289.
He said the price rise was driven by a significant increase in wholesale electricity costs this year.
However, he said the increase in wholesale electricity costs would be largely offset because the ACT Government scheme costs had decreased substantially this year – resulting in a rebate to customers.
“The regulated price increases mentioned only apply to standing offer tariffs,” the Senior Commissioner said.
“We encourage consumers to regularly compare these tariffs to other offers in the market.”
The ICRC’s 33-page Retail electricity price recalibration 2023-24: standing offer prices for the supply of electricity to small customers report can be accessed at this PS News link.
