Canberrans could disconnect electricity as bills soar over winter

The ACT's Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission published on Thursday its annual decision on regulated retail electricity prices for the 2018-19 year, outlining a 14.29 per cent increase for households, or about $5.73 a week.

That rise follows a 17 per cent rise in electricity prices in the September quarter last year, and comes as some 35,000 Canberrans are now living below the poverty line, a recent report on poverty from the ACT Council of Social Service found.

But the increase comes amid a rising trend of disconnections for Canberra households, with more than 250 residential customers turning off their electricity, and almost 200 turning off their gas supply since last July.

Council executive director Susan Helyar said while the causes of the rising power bills was understood, the latest rise in energy costs would mean even more low income households in Canberra would resort to turning off their supply.

The latest figures from the Australian Energy Regulator show 427 Canberra residential electricity disconnections in the 2016-17 fiscal year, and 159 already this year, while there were 423 residential gas disconnections in 2016-17 and 192 in the months since.

Ms Helyar said while the council welcomed a recent $50 increase in utilities concessions, announced in February, it was not enough. The council was told the increase had "not even touched the sides" of the rising costs.

"The current trend in disconnection is still rising and it's not going down, even with investments by retailers and the ACT government in energy efficiency initiatives," she said.

"[After this increase] many household will just make the decision to turn off their heating.

"We know that will be a saving to them in the short term, but they will bear the cost of health problems over the winter and the government will bear the cost of increasing health service demand in the emergency department, especially for respiratory problems."

Commissioner Joe Dimasi said the latest retail increases were partly due to rises in the National Electricity Market's wholesale electricity prices from 2016 and 2017, and despite wholesale prices falling in recent months, they were still 50 per cent higher than in May 2016.

While the 14.29 per cent rise is the maximum increase electricity retailers are allowed to raise their prices by in the ACT, the territory's main energy supplier, ActewAGL, usually passes on the full cost to customers.

If it does, the increase equates to a 12.16 per cent rise in electricity prices for 2018-19, excluding inflation.

Despite the increase, the ACT's retail electricity price remains one of the lowest in the National Electricity Market, behind those in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, as at June 1.

But Mr Dimasi said there was now a "catch-up" in the ACT as the wholesale price rises that occurred in 2017 flowed through to Canberra consumers.

Of the 14.29 per cent increase, 7.80 percentage points were attributed to the rising wholesale price. National green schemes run by the Clean Energy Regulator made up the remainder.

Both ActewAGL and Origin Energy, one of two recent entrants to the ACT's market, have offered discounts or even freezing electricity prices for Canberra residents, particularly for customers who take up "off market" offers.

ACT energy minister Shane Rattenbury has also urged all Canberrans to shop around for the best deal they could, but he would not detail whether the government was considering further increases to the utilities concessions as a result of the price rise.

Ms Helyar said that if Canberrans were considering turning off their heating, or expecting a bill they may not be able to afford, they should get in touch with their energy retailer, which has an obligation to help people facing hardship from being disconnected.