Rise in water, power costs to hit the needy

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong’s poorest residents could be hardest hit by a significant increase in water and electricity costs.
The State Government has revealed that water prices could increase by up to 20 per cent, while a 73 per cent increase in the wholesale price of electricity is expected to be passed on to customers.
The Springvale Benevolent Society this week said it was concerned that the city’s poorest residents would be hardest hit by the increase.
Society president Wes Eggleston said refugees and other low-income earners were already “clutching at straws to survive”.
“We are dealing with people on the periphery of life and they do not have much margin to play with,” he said.
“We know people say that some out there take advantage of (the society) but that is generally not true.
“There are not a lot of people on a fixed income – and a utilities increase already strains a fixed income.”
Energy Users’ Association of Australia (EUAA) chief executive Roman Domanski said wholesale electricity prices had increased in Victoria by 73 per cent over the past 12 months.
He said retailers – which include TRU Energy and Origin Energy – would not bear the increase by electricity generators and would instead pass the expense on to their customers.
Mr Domanski said a number of Victorians had standing contracts – ones with electricity rates set by the Essential Services Commission – but would have to wait to see how much the Victorian Government would increase the rate by.
He said the New South Wales Government had recently announced a 26 per cent over three years in its standing rate.
Mr Domanski said the EUAA was investigating why rates had skyrocketed but early signs pointed towards the drought-induce lack of hydro-electricity and industry anticipating a carbon tax.