Power bills are set to skyrocket in this state
Energy Australia is the second major electricity provider to announce a price hike this year, with power bills set to rise by 19 per cent in New South Wales.
The price rise, which will add an extra $6.15 a week to the average household bill for Sydneysiders, comes after AGL revealed it would be increasing prices by 16.1 per cent.
EnergyAustralia chief customer officer Kim Clarke conceded that this price rise would be, “Bad news for families and business."
"This is... absolutely not what they wanted to hear. In the past 12 months alone wholesale prices for both electricity and gas have surged, almost doubling in some states," she said.
This latest price hike is another sting to the daily budget of Australian households, with a recent report from St Vincent de Paul Society finding prices across all electricity providers rose by an average of eight per cent last year.
St Vincent de Paul Society's Gavin Dufty said EnergyAustralia's increase was slightly higher than expected, and cautioned consumers that it "would not be the end."
"These price increases will also be higher for non-solar households, for whom they will be closer to $400 a year," he said,
"And for larger consumption households with families and lots of kids, it will be higher again."
Ms Clarke attributed the price rise to higher wholesale costs caused by the closure of large coal-fired power plants, and generator reliability issues.
"Today, getting electricity to our customers costs more right across the energy chain," she said.
NSW Energy and Utilities Minister Don Harwin also expressed his disappointment, “As the Prime Minister and Federal Energy Minister have said in the past week, this is a national problem and we need a sensible solution out of the Finkel Review.
"For those facing hardship the NSW Government has a range of rebates to help vulnerable customers pay their electricity and gas bills... I urge people who are struggling to call Service NSW or their retailer to find out what rebates they are eligible for."
What’s your take on the electricity crisis? Should the providers have a responsibility to keep prices in check? Is the government doing enough to support vulnerable households? Let us know what you think in the comments below.