Energy Australians to pay up to $430 more under uncompetitive gas market, analysis says Inflated gas prices will keep driving up electricity bills, especially on east coast, McKell Institute says In 2017 households were paying $175 a year more on power than if gas prices were at levels the ACCC said were reasonable. Photograph: Carolyn Hebbard/Getty ImagesHouseholds on the east coast will pay as much as $430 more for electricity by the end of 2019 owing to uncompetitive gas prices, a new McKell Institute report has warned. The McKell Institute said “there is a problem with Australia’s gas market”, arguing it was “ironic that Australia, as the eminent world leader in gas exports, is subject to the world’s highest gas prices”. Malcolm Turnbull heralded the fact wholesale gas prices had already fallen, owing to what he called “pretty heavy-handed” intervention in the market. But the McKell Institute said the changes “have not led to major contractions in gas prices”.

Source: The Guardian February 05, 2018 00:07 UTC