❓ Mr. Nalder questions the Treasurer about electricity price increases for small businesses due to tariff rebalancing. The Treasurer defends the changes, stating they were necessary to address cost imbalances and resulted in an average bill reduction for businesses, while acknowledging disproportionate impact on low-consumption users.
AnsweredQoN 929Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTRICITY PRICE —
INCREASE
929. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Treasurer:
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge
the staff and students from Christ Church Grammar School in the member for
Cottesloe's electorate.
I refer to the Treasurer's
so-called tariff rebalancing of small businesses that has resulted in 20 000
small businesses receiving electricity bill increases of at least 40 per cent
this financial year. Can the Treasurer confirm that his mean-spirited changes
have disproportionately impacted mum-and-dad businesses with low electricity
consumption, that this puts further pressure on household budgets, and is yet
another example of removing discretionary expenditure from the economy?
INCREASE
929. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Treasurer:
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge
the staff and students from Christ Church Grammar School in the member for
Cottesloe's electorate.
I refer to the Treasurer's
so-called tariff rebalancing of small businesses that has resulted in 20 000
small businesses receiving electricity bill increases of at least 40 per cent
this financial year. Can the Treasurer confirm that his mean-spirited changes
have disproportionately impacted mum-and-dad businesses with low electricity
consumption, that this puts further pressure on household budgets, and is yet
another example of removing discretionary expenditure from the economy?
AnswerView source ↗
If I refer the member for Bateman
back to my media statements back at budget time in I think May last year, he
will find that we made it crystal clear that we would increase the fixed charge
of Synergy bills in respect of household and business bills—I think
this is the one tariff that the member is talking about. The now Leader of the
Opposition, when he was energy minister, said that was the fair thing to do but
he was reluctant or unable to do it. That is what we did. Now, this happened
some time ago and I am surprised it has taken so long for a question to come
this way. What we also did with that tariff was increase the fixed charge and
then drop the variable charge by 20 per cent. Why did we do that? It is because
the vast majority of the costs are in the fixed component of the bill. We can
no longer afford to carry that disconnect between the cost of the system and
the revenue that the system provides. That is why we made the decision around
not just business tariffs, but household tariffs. As I said, and as my media
statement said at the time, it will impact disproportionately on those who use
small amounts of electricity—undoubtedly. That is why we had a range of
other concession increases as well, and also re-funded the financial
counsellors that the Premier referred to a minute ago.
In respect of the tariff the member
is talking about, the benefit of increasing the fixed charge and then dropping
the variable by 20 per cent meant, for the average business consumer, a reduction
in their power bill of about 5.6 per cent. That is not a bad outcome. Yes, it
will have different impacts on different power users, but that is the reality
when we are trying to rebalance a very complicated tariff structure that the
former government, although understanding it needed to act on it, simply
refused to.
back to my media statements back at budget time in I think May last year, he
will find that we made it crystal clear that we would increase the fixed charge
of Synergy bills in respect of household and business bills—I think
this is the one tariff that the member is talking about. The now Leader of the
Opposition, when he was energy minister, said that was the fair thing to do but
he was reluctant or unable to do it. That is what we did. Now, this happened
some time ago and I am surprised it has taken so long for a question to come
this way. What we also did with that tariff was increase the fixed charge and
then drop the variable charge by 20 per cent. Why did we do that? It is because
the vast majority of the costs are in the fixed component of the bill. We can
no longer afford to carry that disconnect between the cost of the system and
the revenue that the system provides. That is why we made the decision around
not just business tariffs, but household tariffs. As I said, and as my media
statement said at the time, it will impact disproportionately on those who use
small amounts of electricity—undoubtedly. That is why we had a range of
other concession increases as well, and also re-funded the financial
counsellors that the Premier referred to a minute ago.
In respect of the tariff the member
is talking about, the benefit of increasing the fixed charge and then dropping
the variable by 20 per cent meant, for the average business consumer, a reduction
in their power bill of about 5.6 per cent. That is not a bad outcome. Yes, it
will have different impacts on different power users, but that is the reality
when we are trying to rebalance a very complicated tariff structure that the
former government, although understanding it needed to act on it, simply
refused to.
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