On the 1st of July, South Australia overtook Denmark as having the world's most expensive electricity when the country's major energy retailers increased their prices.
Residential customers of AGL, Energy Australia and Origin Energy have had their prices rise by up to 19.9 per cent, which is expected to add hundreds of dollars to annual household bills.
A lot of people are struggling to pay their electricity bills, and the high cost of electricity is pushing some people into poverty, with charities seeing an increase in calls for help for their services. It seems that these days, electricity is priced as a luxury, and not a necessity.
South Australia's sky-high electricity prices have forced an Adelaide plastics recycling business to shut its doors, costing 35 workers their jobs, its managing director says. Plastics Granulating Services (PGS), based in Kilburn in Adelaide's inner-north, said it had seen its monthly power bills increase from $80,000 to $180,000 over the past 18 months and managing director Stephen Scherer said that the high cost of power had crippled his business of 38 years and plans for expansion, which has led to his company recently being placed in liquidation.
People are wondering just how expensive utilities are going to get in the future, as electricity is starting to be priced out of some peoples reach, particularly those who rely on welfare such as the elderly, who struggle to pay their electricity bills under normal circumstances.
The answer to rising electricity prices is of course investment in renewables, and Energy Australia, one of the country's largest operators of coal-fired power stations has joined big business, unions, welfare and environmental groups calling for an end to Canberra's blame game over renewables because the cost of living was becoming a major issue of their customers. However, the Australian Federal Government does not support renewable technologies, opting to support coal based technologies instead leaving Australian consumers out in the cold.
I'm sorry to hear of the troubles there. It seems the push is to get rid of the so called middle class all around the globe. We'll all be "equal" and poor.
My electric bill for a small townhouse is $250 a month. My mortgage is only $943. I pay almost as much for distribution as I do for the actual electricity too.
I have no problem with big businesses, but when they combine with governments, as they always do, that's a serious problem. Utility companies here are probably like yours, and they use the government for subsidies and control.
Heck, is most of America, it is illegal to NOT connect to the grid now. You are legally required to connect to have a home. It really is getting absurd...
I think that you are right regarding the middle class! Unfortunately for us they have privatized the grid which has resulted in huge bills for the consumer. An average bill is at least $500 or so, closer to what you pay for your mortgage, totally pricing some people out of the market.
They are private but have monopolies for the area they service like here, right?
For that much a month, a person could finance a loan to install solar instead?
You are right they are private with monopolies in the area they cover. Lot's of people have gone solar due to the cost of power.
Reading news like this makes me feel we should revolutionize the way electricity is being created, distributed, and marketed. Imagine having the entire nation powered by solar and other renewable sources of energy!
No more pesky energy companies and the government trying to suck the people dry of their hard earned moolah. Maybe an ICO for solar power???
That would be brilliant....an ICO that I could really get behind!
And I thought WA was bad 😩
It's ridiculous! A rort.
A lot of troubles to come :(
Yes I think you are right, when you start getting electricity retailers jumping on the renewables wagon....the system is broken.
If we condemn on these shitty system we will get some relief otherwise the system will kill us
I have 5KW on the roof, and I'll get a Tesla powerwall as soon as I can.
Adelaide gets plenty of sun, so we'll be right.
No jobs though, that'll hurt.
The jobs crisis in SA is getting to be epic!
It's ludicrous we have so much available resources and we pay so much.
Any smart government would build their own power station and not leave it to big businesses to do the right thing
There's no such thing as smart government. ;-)
They are actually privatizing it...
hmmm, not smart. I'd actually love to join the government (possibly may run for the Senate next election), but I'd probably get kicked out as I'm too logical for them.
Well, you would have my vote :)
thats 1, only need 24.99999million more :)
lols...Senator Gohba Handcrafts has a nice ring to it ;)
haha maybe I could use a cheif advisor Miss Polichick
Watching the news online last year. It seemed to me that BHP whom owns the power plant in SA. Were trying to do a central bank business plan. Too Big to Fail, and get a massive benefit from the government to upgrade the power plant. And then give all the profits to the share holders.
Yes, renewable energy is expensive and is destroying South Australia.
We need coal fired power, not expensive solar panels and windmills, which don't produce reliable and cheap energy.
Australia needs a Donald Trump to expose the lies and bring back investment into fossil fuels! Cheap reliable energy which will make us competitive again.