Gillard powers high electricity costs in Burleigh

22 Mar 2013 12:00 AMMichael Hart

“Demand for power has dropped but because the 41,000 gigawatt hours is fixed, it increases the proportion of expensive renewable energy on electricity bills,” Mr Hart said

Minister for Energy and Water Supply Mark McArdle said that the  Queensland Competition Authority last year advised that the RET added $102 to average electricity bills on top of more than $170 for the Carbon Tax.

“Julia Gillard promised to reduce power bills by $250 and made an issue about increasing power prices. However, when given the opportunity to decrease prices, she turned a blind eye on families and battlers because her eyes were on green preferences,” he said.

“A draft report from the Queensland Competition Authority outlines that by 2015/16 solar PV costs will account for 17 per cent of the average domestic power bill.”

Mr Hart says green policies are now adding more than 17 per cent to the average electricity bill, without taking into account the 17% impact on domestic rooftops, which is also being passed on to all consumers on their power bills.

“The Federal Government cannot seem to grasp that the RET and the Carbon Tax are driving up electricity bills, which is crippling our local families are businesses,” Mr Hart said.

 “Combine this with the RET and Carbon Tax and we are in a situation where more than one-third of power bills is taken up by green schemes.

“Yet Climate Change Minister Combet can’t see that these policies might be hurting families.

“This is another example where Federal Labor could do the right thing and try to reduce the cost of living on households, but refuse to do so.”