Yahoo Finance Aussies offered 'urgent' $1,000 energy rebate: 'Biggest cost-of-living relief package in history'
Queenslanders will receive the one-off, per-household payment from July 1.
The Queensland government has announced a multi-billion dollar initiative to give cost-of-living relief to thousands of residents. Those living in the Sunshine State will soon receive a per-household $1,000 energy rebate to ensure they don't have to pay their electricity bills for a whole quarter.
The $2.5 billion project has come to fruition thanks to coal royalties and will kick in from July 1. Premier Steven Miles said it will no doubt be welcome news to many households who have been struggling with power prices.
“We are delivering the biggest cost-of-living relief package in Queensland history to back Queenslanders in the fight against inflation,” Miles said.
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“I said we would use the budget to deliver cost-of-living relief, but I’ve decided it’s too urgent to wait that long."
Eligible seniors, pensioners and concession card holders will receive $1,372 off their power bills.
This energy rebate is on top of what the state government already delivered. Queenslanders were given a $550 electricity rebate for the 2023-24 financial year and small businesses had $325 wiped off their bills.
These rebates were sorely needed as Sunshine State residents sustained 11 high-price weather events in the first quarter of 2024, which was the most of any other state or territory in the country.
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The 2023-24 summer was also Australia's third-warmest on record, which brought higher demand for cooling, particularly in Queensland, where daily demand exceeded previous records three times during January to March.
"The issue of congestion in transmission does present a greater risk of high-price events when we do have extreme weather or demand conditions," Australian Energy Regulator (AER) board member Jarrod Ball told AAP.
Wholesale electricity prices might have fallen from their 2022 peak, but many customers won't have seen this reflected in their bills.
Consumer money-saving expert Joel Gibson told Yahoo Finance there was no reason for energy companies to keep prices so high after the AER's report showed wholesale electricity costs fell between 44 and 64 per cent in 2023.
“We really should be seeing some cheaper prices already,” he said. “The peak in wholesale prices was mid-2022 and the government capped wholesale gas prices in late 2022, so they've been under control for over a year now.
“I expect we'll see cheaper government reference prices in July and most retailers will respond by introducing some cheaper discounted plans. But there will be the occasional retailer that sticks its neck out in the months before July, releasing cheaper deals to try and win customers.
“When we see those, we should jump on them.”
He urged people to call their energy provider to see if they can get a better deal and if they can't then they should look at swapping to a competitor.
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