Fuel businesses are receiving higher than anticipated electricity bills and being forced to pass on the costs to motorists through raised fuel prices.
According to ACAPMA, some fuel businesses are reporting their electricity bills in 2017 are up by between 80 per cent and 120 per cent due to the rise in wholesale electricity prices. ACAPMA says the prices are now among the highest in the world, despite Australia having an abundance of natural-energy resources.
“As a country, we’ve kicked a massive own goal on electricity prices and it’s essential that we balance the national score card as soon as possible,” ACAPMA CEO Mark McKenzie said.
ACAPMA says the Finkel report on the national electricity market, released earlier this year, was welcomed by the industry, especially its review of the engineering and economics, which set out what it called a “comprehensive strategy for addressing rising wholesale prices”.
“Unfortunately, the adoption of the Finkel report by government was delayed because of an ideological debate about the pace of transition to renewable sources of electricity generation,” Mr McKenzie said.
“As a result, federal and state politicians argued and fiddled around while business and industry struggled with ever-increasing electricity prices.”
At a meeting in Canberra last week, ACAPMA, along with other stakeholders and businesses groups, was given the opportunity to question Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg about the new energy plan.
“We left this meeting with the confidence that the Australian government’s plan was sound and would likely deliver lower electricity prices over time – provided it was implemented well,” Mr McKenzie said.
“It’s this latter point that remains the key risk to delivery of reduced electricity prices in the future under the new plan.”
