TasCOSS welcomes the State Government’s announcement …

TasCOSS welcomes the State Government’s announcement that Tasmanians will be protected from the potential significant increases of the wholesale energy price on the 1st July.

“TasCOSS shares the State Government’s assessment that without some protection, domestic and small business energy consumers could be hard hit, Ms Goodes said. We look forward to seeing the full detail of the announcement when it is tabled this week.”

“While the amount of wholesale cost increase for the next financial year is unknown, analysts point out that the “Wholesale ‘Energy Only’ pricing for next Financial Year (2017/18) is currently at unprecedented levels.”

“With cost of living pressures already biting hard for many Tasmanians including increases in rent, water and day to day essential food items, the last thing low income Tasmanians can afford is a rise in their electricity bills over the cold winter months. These cost pressures combined with stagnant or low wage growth and inadequate income support payments from the Federal Government means the day to day essentials of life are becoming a luxury for many Tasmanian families.””

“Today’s announcement in conjunction with the announcement by the Regulator on Friday to ensure network costs are also kept as low as possible is good news for Tasmanians. “

(For information purposes – see below)

The electricity bill for a household or domestic consumer is made up of
· Network costs (approx. 50% of the bill)

· Wholesale costs (approx. 26% of the bill)

· Retail costs (approx. 12% of the bill)

· Environmental policy costs (eg Renewable Energy Target) (approx. 6% of the bill)

· Metering and market charges (approx. 3% of the bill)
Kym Goodes, CEO of TasCOSS