House debates

Monday, 27 March 2017

Questions without Notice

Energy

2:22 pm

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. The businesses and the families in the honourable member's electorate and in the electorate of every honourable member in this House depend upon secure and affordable electricity. It is the lifeblood of our economy. We need it at every level of our business. Every part of our lives depends on secure and affordable electricity.

We are seeing today an extraordinary combination of failed Labor policies that are driving electricity prices up and driving reliability down. During the six years of the Labor government, household electricity prices went up by 100 per cent. They then declined with the abolition of the carbon tax, and now they are rising again, and we are taking action. We are setting out to ensure that the gas supply—

Mr Bowen interjecting

Comments

Tibor Majlath
Posted on 28 Mar 2017 3:51 pm

Did electricity prices decline 'with the abolition of the carbon tax'?

You have to wonder whether there were extra price rises hidden behind the carbon tax which was used as a convenient scapegoat to account for a doubling of prices during the six years of Labor.

In my case, the cost of 1KWH over the period 2013-2016 dropped 9.3% independently of usage, while the daily service charge rose 22% over that period under the Coalition.

Now, there are claims of price rises again this time under the watch of the Coalition who still blame Labor and the Greens.

You have to wonder whether anyone really knows what is going on. The ACCC is apparently investigating. Probably will result in the same outcome as Susan Ley's great investigation into health insurance premium price rises. Nothing.

Privatization has really lived up to expectation.