Skip to primary navigation | Skip to secondary navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer |
Queensland Competition Authority (QCA)

QCA Home – Site Map – Subscribe – Contact Us
 
electricity-retail feature graphic
Electricity icon
 
About the QCA
Employment
News
Electricity - Retail
Review of Regulated Retail Electricity Tariffs and Prices
Electricity Industry Code
Electricity Billing Code
Code Breaches
Price Comparator
Information Reporting
Consumer Advisory Committee
Notified Electricity Prices
Standard Large Customer Retail Contracts
Electricity Retailers
Retailer of Last Resort
Electricity - Distribution
Gas - Retail
Gas - Distribution
Ports
Rail
Local Government
Water
Cross Industry Issues
Competitive Neutrality
Links

 
QCA Home > Electricity - Retail > Notified Electricity Prices 2012-13  
Print Version

Notified Electricity Prices 2012-13

Draft Determination

On 30 March 2012, the Authority released its Draft Determination on regulated retail electricity prices for 2012-13. The Authority was directed to set notified prices based on an N + R cost build-up approach where the N (network cost) component is treated as a pass-through and the R (energy and retail cost) component is determined by the Authority.

The notified prices for 2012-13 reflect a number of general factors including:

  1. further increases in network charges;
  2. an increase in the underlying cost of energy, primarily due to the carbon tax; and
  3. the one-off effects of moving from an ad hoc set of tariffs that had evolved over time to a new tariff structure reflecting the true costs of supply.

Unlike previous years under the BRCI where prices for all tariffs were increased by the same percentage, under the new arrangements different tariffs will be impacted differently. Moreover, the Authority was required to change the main residential tariff (Tariff 11) from a flat tariff to an inclining block tariff. The impact of this change on households will vary according to their level of consumption.

For example, the annual bill for a typical residential customer on Tariff 11 (consuming 5,370 kWh per year) is expected to increase by 3.9% (or $52). However, the impact will be higher for those customers with lower annual consumption (due to the re-balancing of prices towards higher fixed charges and lower consumption charges) and also for those with higher annual consumption (due the effect of the higher variable rate charged on the highest step of the IBT). For a typical household (consuming 5,370 kWh per year on Tariff 11 and 1,965 kWh per year on Tariff 33), the annual bill is estimated to increase by 7.6% or $122 in 2012-13. If not for the imposition of the Commonwealth's carbon tax, the annual bill for these customers would instead have decreased, by $70.

In this regard, the carbon tax will push the typical residential household's annual bill around $192.35 (11.2%) higher than it might have been otherwise. In addition, the Commonwealth Enhanced Renewable Energy Target Scheme, which has not been removed despite the introduction of the carbon tax, adds $92.80 (5.4%) to a typical residential household's annual bill.

The Authority has retained a number of the existing tariffs that would otherwise have been unavailable from 1 July 2012 for a further 12 months. This is to allow certain customer groups time to adjust their consumption to better suit the new tariffs.

The Draft Determination, the draft report on energy purchase costs from the Authority's consultant (ACIL Tasman) and several data files relating to the modelling of energy costs can be downloaded here.

Submissions in response to the Draft Determination closed on 13 April 2012.

Draft Determination

Draft Decision Data

Submissions
Sub-Issues
Superseded

Adobe Reader is required to open and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files and is free to download from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
© Copyright Queensland Competition Authority – Privacy – Disclaimer
Modified: 14 May 2012
Queensland Competition Authority
Level 19, 12 Creek Street
Brisbane, Queensland
Australia 4000
Phone: +61 (7) 3222 0555
Fax: +61 (7) 3222 0599
qca.org.au