\n<\/p>\n
Power prices on Australia\u2019s east coast are predicted to fall from July because of increased output from wind generation and batteries, and falling electricity contract prices, with potential savings up to $1,320 for some small businesses.<\/p>\n
In a draft decision on Thursday, the Australia Energy Regulator (AER) proposed a price reduction for customers on standing electricity plans \u2013 known as the \u201cdefault market offer\u201d \u2013 of between 1.3% to 10.1% for residential customers, and between 8.5% and 21.2% for small businesses, depending on the region.<\/p>\n
If adopted, households in New South Wales and Queensland could save more than $200, while small businesses in NSW could save more than $1,300.<\/p>\n
Clare Savage, chair of the AER, said the draft decision would be \u201cwelcome relief\u201d for customers after several years of rising prices following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. The regulator would be closely monitoring the global energy situation before making a final decision in May.<\/p>\n
Every year, the AER sets a default market offer in NSW, South Australia and south-east Queensland, while Victoria\u2019s Essential Services Commission does the same in that state. The offer is intended as a safety net for customers who haven\u2019t sought a better deal from their electricity retailer, and acts as a reference price for comparing offers.<\/p>\n
Victorian customers on standing offers could also expect a price fall, with the Essential Services Commission recommending lower prices in its draft determination released last week. If adopted, annual bills for Victorian customers would be $46 lower on average compared with 2025-26.<\/p>\n
The draft determination also introduces the \u201csolar sharer\u201d offer, an opt-in plan that includes three hours of free power in the middle of the day to take advantage of abundant solar energy.<\/p>\n
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the idea was designed to share the benefits of Australia\u2019s solar success.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor households that can shift some of their usage into the free power period, this can mean real savings on bills, whether that is running the dishwasher, doing the washing, or heating hot water during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The free usage periods would be set between 11am to 2pm in NSW and south-east Queensland, and noon to 3pm in South Australia. According to the AER, the overall cost would be the same as the default offer, but with free energy in the middle of the day and slightly higher prices at other times.<\/p>\n
Savage said the regulator remained cautious about global events, particularly in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Australia continues to invest in new sources of renewable energy, our electricity system remains significantly exposed to the international price of fossil fuels such as coal and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Power prices on Australia\u2019s east coast are predicted to fall from July because of increased output from wind generation and batteries, and falling electricity contract prices, with potential savings up to $1,320 for some small businesses. In a draft decision on Thursday, the Australia Energy Regulator (AER) proposed a price reduction for customers on standing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2029,1558,3710,898,611,1845,1600,649,1664,269,1050],"class_list":{"0":"post-47095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-australias","9":"tag-bringing","10":"tag-coast","11":"tag-east","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-expected","14":"tag-fall","15":"tag-july","16":"tag-power","17":"tag-prices","18":"tag-relief"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}