Vinnies report on electricity cost rises
The St Vincent de Paul Society has released a report on the impact of changes in the energy market on disadvantaged Australians.
New Meters, New Protections: A National Report on Customer Protections and Smart Meters Through 2009, tracks and reports on the impact of Smart Meter installation on a state by state basis.
The Society national chief executive, Dr John Falzon, has raised concern that the government’s introduction of Smart Meters, in combination with other pending policy shifts, will add hundreds of dollars to Australian energy bills each year.
The agreement by the Council of Australian Governments to roll out of Smart Meters dates back to 2007 and was also backed by the Ministerial Council on Energy in June 2008.
Smart Meters are a new technology that allows the introduction of Time of Use (TOU) tariffs, making electricity more expensive when total demand is high and less expensive when demand is low to encourage households to shift or reduce consumption at times of high demand.
The Society’s work shows three factors increase household likelihood of financial disadvantage from TOU pricing:
- Low-volume households have little discretionary load that they can shift to take advantage of low off peak rates. They are therefore simply hit by the price applied at the time of usage.
- Dual fuel households – households using other energy sources such as reticulated gas generally do not have significant off-peak electricity load to offset the more expensive peak and shoulder rates charged on a TOU tariff.
- Households with people at home during the day on weekdays such as pensioners, people with disabilities, the unemployed, parents caring for young children and other carers are likely to need and consume electricity during the business hours peak tariff times.
The report is available at http://www.vinnies.org.au
