Energy bill relief ‘a year away’ under Coalition plan
Households will wait up to a year before seeing any reduction in energy bills under the Coalition’s gas plan, it has been revealed.
The opposition unveiled modelling for the plan to reserve gas for the domestic market on Tuesday, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went head to head in the first of the leaders’ election debates.
It has forecast modest 7 per cent drop in gas and 3 per cent for electricity bills for households under its plan.
Industrial customers are promised a 15 per cent reduction in gas bills, which also forecasts an 8 per cent decrease in wholesale electricity prices.
However, Coalition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said it would take time for the gas reservation plan to flow through to energy bill reductions.
“We are certainly looking, by the end of this calendar year, that you would start seeing wholesale gas prices coming down,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
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“As that … filters through with contracts, then by the end of the first 12-month period, industry, households should be seeing the impact.”
The drop in energy bills would also depend on legislation setting up the domestic gas reserve passing parliament, if the Coalition wins the May 3 federal election
Dutton has repeatedly attacked Albanese over Labor’s 2022 energy modelling, which forecast a $275 reduction in energy bills.
However, Dutton has faced questions on the campaign trail to deliver his own modelling.
“Our policy will be a game-changer because we can then see the cost and therefore price of electricity, construction, food prices and many other goods start to come down,” he said.
“Gas is critical to our nation’s energy future.”
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But Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare said the gas plan was little more than a distraction.
“This is snake oil… I wouldn’t call it modelling. I call it 125 words of assumptions,” he told ABC Radio.
“This is a distraction, to distract people’s attention from what would be the most expensive policy that any party has ever taken to the Australian people: These nuclear reactors.”
The gas plan modelling was released on Tuesday night during the first leaders’ debate of the election.
A group of 100 undecided voters gave the win to Albanese.
But one in five couldn’t decide which leader they preferred following the debate.
Energy bills, healthcare and broader cost-of-living pressures were among the most pressing issues for the voters.
Despite Labor’s debate win, Clare said the remainder of the campaign would be close.
“This will be a tight election. All elections are and this will be no different,” he said.
“What does Peter Dutton have to offer? It was all aggro, no answers. His only policy is to build these nuclear reactors which are as popular as a root canal.”
O’Brien said questions from audience members during the debate showed cost-of-living issues were front of mind for voters.
“It was crystal clear that the Australian people are struggling,” he told ABC TV.
“We heard that people are struggling to pay for their petrol. People are struggling to pay for their groceries, and then, unfortunately, what you saw in the Prime Minister was absolutely no acceptance of his performance.”
