Yahoo Finance Here’s how YOU can save up to $832 a year on your power bill
Are you being ripped off by your expensive energy bills? The Morrison government is about to help.
Within the next six months, the government plans to implement four new measures slated to slash bills for Australians all around the country.
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As a result of the changes, Australians who make the shift from a standard retail plan to the cheapest market offer could find themselves saving hundreds of dollars each year.
Depending on where you live, the savings could be as high as $832 per year.
Residents in the ACT could save $273 annually, while customers in NSW could see $365 back in their wallets, according to figures from the Australian Energy Market Commission.
Queenslanders and Victorians could save $504 and $574 respectively, while South Australians stand to benefit the most from switching by saving a whopping $832 a year.
Measure 1: Introducing a ‘price safety net’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would bring down bills by implementing a ‘price safety net’, or a default price for electricity.
This would end the “loyalty tax” on customers around the nation who have been loyal to the same energy provider for a long time.
“Just simply because they’ve stayed with their electricity company, they pay more. That has to end,” Morrison said on Tuesday.
The electricity regulator has been told to implement default prices by 30 April 2019, with residents and small businesses to feel the impact of the savings by 1 July.
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Measure 2: Stemming “price gouging by the big energy companies”
The government will give the regulator tougher new powers to crack down on “sneaky late payment penalties” and force energy retailers to pass on savings to consumers that come through from wholesale prices.
This would be the “big stick we need to keep these big energy companies in line”, Morrison said.
“I don’t bluff.”
Measure 3: Forcing energy companies to stock up
This measure will see companies “buy ahead” and sign contracts that will guarantee enough energy to meet demand so as to prevent major blackouts.
Morrison described this as “fair dinkum power” designed to “keep the lights on”.
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Measure 4: Investing in new generators
More electricity generators will heat up competition and attract investment in the market, lifting supplying and lowering wholesale prices.
“That fair dinkum power generation that works when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, because if you want to keep the big producers and the big companies in check, well there needs to be more,” Morrison said.
“There needs to be more reliable power supply, reliable power generation in the electricity market.”
“That’s what also gets prices down [and] forces more competition into the system.”
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