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Evoenergy wants to increase Canberrans’ electricity bills by more than a third, or almost $300 a year, blaming the ACT’s renewable energy and taxes. The energy retailer said it was seeking the “substantial increase” due to a sharp rise in jurisdictional charges Evoenergy was paying as a result of the territory government’s target of 100 per cent renewable energy. Under the proposal, network charges for the average residential customer would increase by $5.44 a week, or $282.88 a year. The rise would mean the average annual power bill for Evoenergy customers would rise by more than 37 per cent. For commercial customers, the retailer said the increased network charges would mean a rise of $1657 a year, or almost 41 per cent. The proposal, published on Tuesday, has been sent through to the Australian Energy Regulator for approval. A decision on approval is expected to be made in May. If approved, the pricing changes would come into effect on July 1. Last year, the commission dropped prices by about 2.6 per cent after Evoenergy asked for a 1.8 per cent increase for residential customers. Evoenergy chief executive John Knox said the proposed price hike for this year was a significant one. “We understand passing through any increase is difficult for the ACT community, let alone one of this size,” Mr Knox said. “The significant jurisdictional charge increase, combined with smaller transmission and distribution charge increases is expected to result in an average network increase of around 41 per cent.” The energy retailer said a key reason for the substantial increase was the 133 per cent rise in feed-in-tariff payments to large-scale wind and solar generators. Those charges were expected to increase from $42 million for the current financial year to $127 million in 2021-22. As part of the government’s 100 per cent renewable target, solar and wind generators are paid for the energy they generate. Payments are calculated by the difference between the feed-in tariff price and the wholesale electricity price. Mr Knox said a decline in wholesale energy prices had been a leading factor for the increase in the payments. “What we’ve seen over the past year is a significant drop in wholesale electricity prices which has increased the payments Evoenergy has had to make under the scheme,” he said. “This has resulted in a tripling of the funds Evoenergy requires to make large-scale feed-in tariff payments from generators. “We will continue to work with the ACT government as part of our administrative responsibility and have raised our concern about the impact of this increase on the ACT community.” It comes after a report late last year predicted the ACT would be one of the few places where electricity bills were set to increase. The Australian Energy Market Commission’s 2020 report on residential electricity price trends showed across the nation, electricity bills were expected to fall by an average of $117 over the next three years. Driving the savings was a 27.4 per cent fall expected in wholesale costs, as well as a 5.2 per cent reduction in environmental costs. However, the average annual bill in the ACT was set to rise from $1967 in 2019-20 to $2011 in 2022-23. The $44 increase comes despite a 13.4 per cent fall in the wholesale cost of electricity.
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Evoenergy wants to increase Canberrans’ electricity bills by more than a third, or almost $300 a year, blaming the ACT’s renewable energy and taxes.
The energy retailer said it was seeking the “substantial increase” due to a sharp rise in jurisdictional charges Evoenergy was paying as a result of the territory government’s target of 100 per cent renewable energy.
Under the proposal, network charges for the average residential customer would increase by $5.44 a week, or $282.88 a year.
The rise would mean the average annual power bill for Evoenergy customers would rise by more than 37 per cent.
For commercial customers, the retailer said the increased network charges would mean a rise of $1657 a year, or almost 41 per cent.
The proposal, published on Tuesday, has been sent through to the Australian Energy Regulator for approval.
A decision on approval is expected to be made in May.
If approved, the pricing changes would come into effect on July 1.
Evoenergy chief executive John Knox said the proposed price hike for this year was a significant one.
“We understand passing through any increase is difficult for the ACT community, let alone one of this size,” Mr Knox said.
“The significant jurisdictional charge increase, combined with smaller transmission and distribution charge increases is expected to result in an average network increase of around 41 per cent.”
The energy retailer said a key reason for the substantial increase was the 133 per cent rise in feed-in-tariff payments to large-scale wind and solar generators.
Those charges were expected to increase from $42 million for the current financial year to $127 million in 2021-22.
As part of the government’s 100 per cent renewable target, solar and wind generators are paid for the energy they generate.
Payments are calculated by the difference between the feed-in tariff price and the wholesale electricity price.
Mr Knox said a decline in wholesale energy prices had been a leading factor for the increase in the payments.
“What we’ve seen over the past year is a significant drop in wholesale electricity prices which has increased the payments Evoenergy has had to make under the scheme,” he said.
“This has resulted in a tripling of the funds Evoenergy requires to make large-scale feed-in tariff payments from generators.
“We will continue to work with the ACT government as part of our administrative responsibility and have raised our concern about the impact of this increase on the ACT community.”
It comes after a report late last year predicted the ACT would be one of the few places where electricity bills were set to increase.
The Australian Energy Market Commission’s 2020 report on residential electricity price trends showed across the nation, electricity bills were expected to fall by an average of $117 over the next three years.
Driving the savings was a 27.4 per cent fall expected in wholesale costs, as well as a 5.2 per cent reduction in environmental costs.
However, the average annual bill in the ACT was set to rise from $1967 in 2019-20 to $2011 in 2022-23.
The $44 increase comes despite a 13.4 per cent fall in the wholesale cost of electricity.
A proposal by Evoenergy to the national regulator could see power prices increase in Canberra by more than one-third. Picture: Shutterstock
