The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released its price trends report and it looks as if cheaper energy bills are in the pipeline for many Aussies in the next few years. Most of these savings are down to the impact of renewables, but unfortunately, not everyone will benefit just yet.
Released earlier this month, the annual report on power price trends said that residential electricity prices will fall up until 2022 in most states, thanks to more renewable power coming online, regulated prices falling and cheaper green schemes.
Not everyone will benefit
However, these smaller bills won’t be landing on every doormat, with some households in WA facing increases. For some regions, however, it’s great news. Here’s the AEMC’s predictions for the next three years, up until the end of FY 2022, for residential energy bills.
SE Queensland – a 20% reduction
South Australia – a 2% reduction
Victoria – a 5% reduction
New South Wales – an 8% reduction
ACT – a 7% reduction
Tasmania – a 5% reduction
Western Australia – a 6% increase
Northern Territory – information not featured in report
The effect upon feed-in tariffs
Some of these price reductions are down to the decreases in network and environmental programme costs, most of them will come from wholesale price cuts. This could lead to reductions in solar feed-in tariffs in some regions. Victoria’s Essential Services Commission has already hinted at reducing these tariffs from the start of 2020.
Don’t worry about solar panels not being with it anymore, however; just focus on generating your own power and using it.
These figures are just projections
While a greater supply tends to push prices down, there’s always the chance of the unexpected cropping up and changing everything. There could be sudden power station closures or radical policy changes, for example.
On the other hand, these projections might not go far enough. There could be even more generation and storage brought online over the next couple of years, leading to even lower prices.
