Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable member asked me when retail prices are set, and they apply from 1 July, and they apply after the default market offer is released, under the normal course of events, when they're not hidden before an election by a minister. That is the normal course of events—that a draft default market offer will be released in March and a final in May. That can be changed by law, if the minister chooses to, as the member for Hume did. The average increase in Queensland that was hidden by the member for Hume was $165—11.3 per cent for households in Queensland that the member for Hume hid.

An opposition member interjecting—

Yes, the member is right. People pay retail prices, not wholesale prices. That is 100 per cent true. Wholesale prices are one of the inputs to retail prices. That's why the member for Hume set a target of $70 a megawatt hour for retail prices. When he left office, prices were more than $300 a megawatt hour. Wholesale prices feed into retail prices, and our energy market reforms ensure that they do so as efficiently as possible.

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