this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Power Games: Who’s driving high power bills? (www.climatecouncil.org.au)
submitted 3 days ago by okwithmydecay@leminal.space to c/australia@aussie.zone
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Power bills have become a growing source of stress for Aussie families and businesses. Many families are forced to make impossible choices: three in 10 parents are struggling to afford basics like food, electricity and insurance. Government rebates provided some relief, but this was only a band-aid solution.

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[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Renewables did no such thing - the government handouts did that. If the average power bill dropped by $400 it’s because they gave every household $1000 off their energy bills paid using our tax money - meaning the average electricity bill actually increased by $600 that year.

Transmission makes up about 50% of a power bill according to the power companies themselves.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-12/power-prices-to-rise-in-clean-energy-transition/103696450

Network costs (the poles and wires) account for about 45 per cent of a power bill and it's these costs that are on their way up.

[–] spiffmeister@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You can do a bit better than citing a dude with vested interests. You can even find government sources that roughly agree with you: The AEMC report

However the report also notes that:

Delays to new wind and transmission build, and the uncoordinated use of CER are projected to have the biggest impact on electricity costs.

Highlighting that renewables do decrease prices. Of course, reducing gas prices would probably also reduce prices.

Also at least for last quarter the [AEMO] (https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/qed/2024/qed-q4-2024.pdf?rev=d75996ee2317495783a18c996d5878ac&sc_lang=en) report that coal and transmission are the driving costs. Negative energy prices were primarily driven by renewables.

Also

Transmission makes up about 50% ...

Network costs (the poles and wires) account for about 45 per cent of a power bill and it's these costs that are on their way up.

I heard it was up to 100% Last time I checked it was 156% Old mate said it was 196%

The actual figure I saw was around 40%, but sure you can inflate things by saying upto.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The AEMO are the biggest vested interest in this. Nothing they say can be taken seriously.

Renewables don’t decrease prices because without transmission and grid-scale storage, which doesn’t even exist yet, it’s basically useless.

If you’d heard it was 40% why did you say it was only 6-8% in your previous comment?

[–] spiffmeister@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Renewables do decrease prices though? Maybe l2add?

If you’d heard it was 40% why did you say it was only 6-8% in your previous comment?

Because that's literally what the referenced article states? Maybe l2read?

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As the percentage of renewables increases, power bills increase, not decrease. Have you not been paying attention?

So even though you know that the 6-8% figure is bullshit, having heard 40% yourself, you still chose to cite it to try and pretend that “renewables” aren’t causing power bills to increase? Why?