Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

This question was asked last week by the member for Boothby, and a number of us know the Belair Hotel reasonably well. I think Senator McEwen might know it pretty well, to be honest with you; she still lives up in the hills. I understand from the information that was provided as a result of the member for Boothby's question that, of the increase in that off-peak rate to which the senator referred, the overall carbon price effect was less than 10 per cent of the overall electricity bill. There were significant increases in network charges, which, I am advised, added over $1,300 a month to the hotel's electricity costs. So, again, this is another one of those situations where the carbon impact is a particular amount. The government has assessed that in terms of its assistance to consumers, but of course there are obviously substantial increases driven by network costs.