Electricity prices set to rise 24 percent: Here’s who will be hardest hit in NSW, SA, SE Qld

Australian households will face sharp increases in electricity prices in the coming months as the country’s energy regulator flags rise by about 24 per cent in parts of NSW – plus staggering increases in south-east Queensland and South Australia.

Despite NSW experiencing the sharpest increases, State Energy Minister Matt Kean confusingly insisted last night that the coalition government was ‘putting downward pressure’ on electricity bills by ‘firming up’ new renewable energy infrastructure.

Australia’s energy regulator released its draft decision on the standard market bid for the 2023/24 financial year on Wednesday.

It presaged residential electricity price increases of between 19.5 and 23.7 percent, depending on the state and provider.

The standard market offer represents the maximum price that energy retailers in NSW, South Australia and South East Queensland can charge to residential and small business customers.

The vast majority of customers have lower, discounted rates.

The regulator said standard offerings for residential customers in NSW are expected to rise by 20.9 percent to 23.7 percent, while prices in south-east Queensland are expected to rise by nearly 20 percent and South Australia by 22 percent.

It estimated that small business customers could face price increases ranging from 14.7 percent to 25.4 cents, depending on their region and carrier.

Mr Kean announced on Tuesday that a tendering process would begin next month for ‘reinforcing infrastructure’ to keep the lights on in NSW – in a statement full of jargon and technical discussion of a ‘road map’ for electricity prices.

The energy market regulator has announced that residential energy prices will increase by 19.5 and 23.7 percent (image stock image)

Reinforcing the infrastructure means putting back-up sources in place to ensure power is delivered to the grid when intermittent power, such as wind and solar power, is lost due to weather conditions.

Gas generators powered by renewable hydrogen or biogas are the planned alternative source of energy generation in NSW, but they will not come online until 2025.

As the state prepares to close two of its largest coal plants — Liddell in the Hunter Valley this month and Eraring on the Central Coast in 2025 — the energy market manager has warned of power shortages.

Daniel Westerman, CEO of AEMO, said reliability shortfalls will emerge in all mainland states until 2027 and will steadily worsen.

However, Kean insists his government is a comprehensive strategy to ensure that households and businesses throughout NSW have access to reliable and affordable electricity’.

“In the short term, we’re delivering $250 off household energy bills as they look for a better deal,” Kean said in his statement.

“In the long term, we are transforming our network with our Roadmap, which will power at least 12 gigawatts of new renewable generation and two gigawatts of storage if our coal generators go offline.”

Mr Kean said the project will generate 380 megawatts of power on demand, which is a small fraction of what the state needs with the loss of Liddell and Eraring.

The closure of Eraring, Australia’s largest fossil fuel power station, will be seven years ahead of schedule following a surprise decision by owner Origin.

The proposed green energy replacements have both announced serious delays.

The construction of a gas-fired power station in the town of Kurri Kurri is a year behind schedule.

Meanwhile, big questions have been raised about the $6 billion Snowy 2.0 hydrogen/hydropower project, which is intended as a major back-up to renewables.

Originally announced by the Malcolm Turnbull-led coalition government in 2017, it was supposed to be ready in 2021, but this has been pushed back to December 2027.