Homes and businesses across Queensland will pay more in their electricity bills to maintain and upgrade power lines after the state’s network operators were cleared to raise the maximum revenue they can recoup from consumers.
The Australian Energy Regulator on Wednesday signed off on a 47 per cent increase in the revenue that south-east Queensland’s network operator, Energex, can charge between 2025-30 due to higher inflation adding to the cost of delivering reliable and secure power supplies.
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Ergon Energy, spanning north, central and the rest of southern Queensland, will be able to recoup revenues 42 per cent higher than the previous five-year period.
For Queensland households, the increases would add about $48 a year to a typical power bill, the regulator said.
The state’s small business customers, meanwhile, would pay an extra $97 a year on average.
Australian Energy Regulator chair Clare Savage said the final decisions sought to strike a balance between affordability and the investment needed to meet the long-term needs of consumers.
“Cost-of-living pressures and affordability concerns continue to be front of mind for households and small businesses,” she said.
“We have rigorously scrutinised both Energex and Ergon Energy’s proposed expenditures to ensure consumers pay no more than necessary for a safe and reliable power supply, while enabling businesses to address important emerging issues such as network cybersecurity, mitigating the risks of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and integration of consumer energy resources.”
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