Media release – Luke Edmunds MLC, Member for Pembroke, 12 October 2023

Tasmanian power price woes worsening while Liberals sit on their hands

A new energy report paints a dire picture for Tasmanian households already struggling with cost-of-living pressures, yet the Liberal Government continues to sit on its hands in providing any relief.

The Australian Energy Regulator’s State of the energy market 2023 report shows Tasmania has the least affordable electricity bills as a proportion of average income in the nation1, and the highest average power bills2.

The number of Tasmanians with power debt is ballooning, up 21 per cent in past year, with debt per customer up 13 per cent3.

Tasmania also lost its position as the NEM’s lowest priced region4, proving Energy Minister Nick Duigan lied when he said he would be “keeping Tasmanian power prices the lowest in the nation”.

The clear and obvious solution to these problems is to cap power prices.

It is so obvious the policy is still on the Liberal Party’s website, but Minister Duigan has already ruled out doing it, bizarrely claiming a cap on power prices would make power prices go up.

Unlike the Liberals, a Labor Government will cap power prices at 2.5 per cent a year for all households and small businesses and we will also re-establish the electricity rebate scheme that was in place in 2018.

Tasmanians deserve to pay Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power and a Labor government will ensure this happens both now and in the future.

State of the energy market 2023 – a dire picture for Tasmanian households already struggling in a cost-of-living crisis

  • 1 Tasmania has the least affordable market offers (average charges vs average income) (p. 236)
  • 2 Tasmania has the highest average power bills of any jurisdiction (p. 227)
  • 3 The number of customers repaying energy debt is up 21% in the past year and more than double pre-COVID levels (p. 238), and debt per customer up 13% in 12 months
  • 4 “Tasmania was not the NEM’s lowest priced region in 2022-23, a position it had occupied since 2019-20” (p. 39)