The Government welcomes the Australian Energy Regulator’s draft decision today.
If the draft decision is confirmed it will put enormous downward pressure on electricity prices.
The Regulator estimates that the annual savings for a typical household could be up to $160 in network charges.
A typical small business could save up to $300 in network charges annually.
The draft decision relates to the costs that TasNetworks can pass on to customers, which is set independently of Government and TasNetworks. While power bills are made up of a number of components, like generation and transmission costs, which can and do fluctuate, this is still very exciting news and is likely to result in Tasmanians making real savings on their power bills.
This outcome reflects efficiencies and cost savings that have been achieved by TasNetworks and is a testament to the hard working women and men in all of Tasmania’s energy businesses.
The Tasmanian Economic Regulator will take into account the final decision by the Australian Energy Regulator when it’s made and power prices will be adjusted from 1 July 2017.
Since the election, electricity prices in Tasmania have fallen by 2.4 percent, compared to a 65 percent increase under Labor and the Greens.
This latest determination once again puts the lie to Labor’s false claims that the Government’s response to the Basslink failure and the lack of rain would force electricity prices up.