Modest power price drops for NSW, South Australia
Energy customers in NSW and South Australia will see slight reductions on their bills from July but further rises are on the way for those in Queensland.
The Australian Energy Regulator's latest default market offer showed NSW energy users will pay about one per cent less in 2024/25, while those in SA will have a drop of 2.8 per cent in the next financial year.
Queensland's default market offer will rise 4.2 per cent from July, or about $83 a year.
Victorian households will also pay less for their power, with the state's Essential Services Commission also dropping its pricing recommendations on Thursday following AER approval.
The default market offer is the maximum rate energy providers can charge for customers.
The federal regulator's decision comes after it released a draft proposal in March.
The modest decreases in some jurisdictions follows large energy cost rises in the past two years.
"Electricity affordability remains a top cost-of-living issue for households. Many customers are facing challenges to absorb higher electricity prices in the current economic climate," the regulator said in its decision.
"In recognition of this, the AER has placed increased weight on protecting consumers."
The regulator said Queensland had the greatest reliance on base contracts due to using them more during summer, which had led to the larger price rises compared to other states.
Small businesses will also have decreases in their power bills under the default market outcome, with reductions of $402 for Ausgrid customers, while Endeavour and Essential Energy users will get a drop of $191 and $43 respectively.
South Australian small business owners will see an almost nine per cent drop, or $512, to their offer while those in Queensland will see a slight rise of $44.
Victorian households will pay about $100 less for power.
The state's regulator, the Essential Services Commission, said it had based its decision on feedback from stakeholders, market data movement and network tariffs before receiving the AER's tick of approval.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the offerings showed the retail energy market was stabilising.
"Today's figures show a welcome downward trend for prices but we know there's more to do, which is why we're delivering our reliable renewables plan and providing direct energy relief for every household energy bill," he said.
"Our reliable renewables plan backed up with storage, flexible gas and transmission, is the only plan by experts to deliver the lowest cost energy where and when we need it to power households and industries."
It comes as the federal government announced in the budget earlier in May it would provide $300 rebates for every household for energy bill relief.
The rebates would see $75 taken off each quarterly bill starting from July.
