A requested $150 hike in electricity prices is only the first such hit, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Simon Birmingham warned today.
South Australia’s largest energy retailer, AGL South Australia Pty Ltd, has written to the Essential Services Commission to seek approval for price rises directly resulting from Julia Gillard’s carbon tax that would hit households by about $150 a year on average.
“This $150 electricity price hike will be just the first hit of this type for South Australian households because Julia Gillard’s carbon tax is planned to keep going up,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“We’ve long expected the carbon tax to mean an increase to electricity bills around Australia by at least 10 per cent in the first year alone and an increase to gas bills by at least 9 per cent in the first year alone.
“Sadly for Australians, AGL’s request to the pricing regulator only confirms the Coalition’s fears and our warnings over a long period of time.
“The carbon tax lands on 1 July this year, but will keep going up over the coming years with resulting further increases on electricity, gas and transport as well as the flow on rises to the cost of everything else.
“Australians will question the worth of making everything more expensive in this way when the carbon tax fails to stop our own emissions rising and is the biggest such tax in the world.
“Labor’s carbon tax is all pain and no gain.
“Even under its carbon tax, the Government itself still forecasts Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions to increase from 578 million tonnes in 2012 to 621 million tonnes in 2020.
“The carbon tax is an ineffective and expensive policy for which all Australians will pay, and this AGL request for a $150 electricity hike won’t be the last by a long shot.”