Image from ABC News online
Synergy (West Australia) is a state government-owned corporation which raised its residential and business electricity prices on 1 July 2012.
It states that the average customer uses 15.89 units of electricity per day or 969.22 units over 61 days. This should result in a carbon price charge in the vicinity of $22 (based on the state corporation's own calculations) for a billing period of this length.
In the case of an electricity account for June-July 2012, this average household should only attract a carbon price charge of around $11 dollars, because this charge was not introduced until halfway through the billing period.
Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, claimed in the Federal Parliament this week that the electricity account for June-July 2012 (pictured above) represented an $800 increase in electricity costs to an 82 year-old author/ pensioner since the previous billing period and that 70 per cent of this rise is due to the carbon tax.
This particular household appears to have almost doubled its electricity consumption since that previous billing period and used 112 units of electricity daily or 6,832 units over 61 days, resulting in a bill for $1,563.70 in total (GST and carbon price inclusive).
It is worth noting that at an average of 112 units per day this customer uses seven times more electricity than the average Synergy customer and, the carbon price charge included in this bill would be in the vicinity of $77 - again based on the state corporation's own calculations for this level of electricity consumption.
In fact most of the actual $827.45 increase represents increased tariff and supply charges imposed by the WA Coalition Government coupled with the cost of markedly increased consumption.
If Tony Abbott was seriously concerned about this woman, then he would be advising her to have her electricity meter checked and have someone look at her major appliances, if as she allegedly asserts in her email to him, there has been no change in lifestyle which would explain higher electricity use.
Perhaps Mr. Abbott might like to also speak with his political colleagues in the Barnett Government, given a June 2012 final report by the WA Economic Regulation Authority foreshadowed further price increases next year based on Synergy's operating costs:
Synergy reported that its forecast increases in operating costs were based on the following explanatory factors:
- an expected increase in the costs of dealing with customer complaints, due to tariff increases, and additional Ombudsman-related compliance costs;
- the implementation of new products and services required by government;
- increasing implementation costs associated with the new billing system;
- costs associated with strategic projects and business transformation; and
- higher IT costs arising from the separation of IT systems from Western Power.
Though, given this is a West Australia story, perhaps it is more than Mr. Abbott who has a connection with a mining industry unhappy about the national carbon price scheme and who may be intent on pushing the anti-tax case. Parliament might like an explanation as to how this pensioner came to his notice.
