Aussie power bills fall to 10th lowest in the world due to influx of renewables
By Queenslander Staff
Australian households are paying the lowest electricity prices in eight years as the influx of renewable power into the grid reduces wholesale prices.
A report by the Australian Energy Council found Australian consumers are now paying some of the lowest power bills in the OECD, with households in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Japan paying more for their power.
Nearly 35 per cent of electricity supplied to the national grid is now from renewable sources.
Research by the AEC, which represents the 20 biggest electricity and gas suppliers, underlines separate analysis by the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, that found renewable generation and lower fuel costs have brought down the wholesale price of electricity and retailers had passed on savings to retail consumers.
The ACCC found the average annual cost of electricity per residential customer in 2020–21 was $1,434, down by $128 (or 8 per cent) compared to 2018–19.
Australia is now ranked 10th best for power prices of the 38 OECD countries.
As of January this year, renewables account for 34.4 per cent of electricity generation into the national grid, with wind and solar providing the vast majority of that.
Queensland has a renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030. In November, the state government released draft plans to unlock more than three gigawatts of new renewable energy generation capacity within designated zones across the state.
AEC Chief Executive Sarah McNamara said Australian homes and businesses are benefitting from retailers passing savings on to electricity customers.
The average cost per unit of electricity in Australia is 17.6 US cents cents per kilowatt-hour on an adjusted basis, compared to the OECD average of 24.2 cents.
The highest household cost of electricity is in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland, while the cheapest residential electricity rates are seen in Canada, Iceland, and Norway, the AEC said.
“Australia’s current prices are below what we reported in 2014 when we undertook an international comparison. Then, they were 20.47 US c/kWh and lower than the OECD average of 23.03 US c/kWh,” the AEC said.
