The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has released its final decision and report on regulated electricity prices in the ACT which will see a price decrease of 2.56 per cent for the typical ActewAGL customer from 1 July.
Senior Commissioner of ICRC, Joe Dimasi (pictured) said the report, Retail electricity price investigation 2020–24, revealed that the price decrease was equivalent to a decrease in real terms (adjusting for inflation) of 4.31 per cent.
“For the average residential household consuming about 6,500 kWh per year, the expected price decrease would translate to a reduction of $43 in their annual bill,” Mr Dimasi said.
“The impact on non-residential customers ranges from a reduction of $265 per year for a large customer to $66 for a small customer,” he said.
“The average retail price decrease largely reflects falling prices in the wholesale electricity market.”
Mr Dimasi said that a key driver of the lower wholesale prices was the growth in renewable energy generation.
He said this had led to a reduction in wholesale energy purchase costs and national green scheme costs.
“The ACT Government requested the Commission examine the transparency and comparability of electricity offers in the ACT,” he said.
“As a result, the report makes two recommendations to the ACT Government to make it easier for ACT consumers to shop around for a better electricity plan.”
The ICRC recommended that a reference bill be developed to provide ACT consumers with a common point of comparison for assessing electricity offers and that the Territory consider imposing a new regulatory obligation on retailers to notify their customers if they had a better offer available that could reduce the customer’s bills.
The Commission’s 137-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
