The growth in renewable energy generation is bringing down electricity prices. Photo: Windlab.
Average Canberra households could soon be paying more then $100 less a year for their electricity thanks to the growth in renewable energy.
According to the ACT Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission’s draft decision on regulated retail electricity prices for the next four years from 1 July, a typical customer on ActewAGL’s standing offer contracts could expect to see a 6.75 per cent fall in average retail electricity prices in 2020-21.
This translates to a cut of $113 off their annual bill, while non-residential customers could see reductions from $697 per year for a large customer to $174 for a small customer.
It would mean that ACT consumers would continue to pay among the lowest standing offer electricity prices in Australia.
The ICRC says the decrease reflects falling prices in the wholesale electricity market, driven by the growth in renewable energy generation.
This has cut the cost of national green schemes, contributing 4.1 percentage points of the estimated price reduction, with cheaper wholesale energy costs contributing to the balance of the decrease.
The ICRC says network costs, which make up about 40 per cent of overall electricity prices, are not expected to change substantially when the Australian Energy Regulator releases them in May.
The ICRC also took up the vexed issue of electricity companies’ different deals, making two recommendations to the ACT Government to make them clearer and easier to compare.
It said that more than 1000 ACT electricity consumers responded to its survey about their experiences in comparing electricity offers, with only 18 per cent indicating they were “confident” their current electricity plan was best for their circumstances. Many (48 per cent) said they didn’t use comparison websites.
While the highest and lowest market offer is less in the ACT than in other jurisdictions, most consumers still find it hard to compare offers, mainly due to the large number of offers and tariff types, the discounting practices of retailers, and the complexity of terms and conditions in plans.
The ICRC has recommended that a reference bill for a typical consumer should be developed, based on regulated prices, to provide customers with a common point of comparison for assessing offers.
It also believes retailers should have to tell customers whether they are on the best offer and how much they would save by switching, depending on their circumstances.
It is also encouraging retailers to regularly tell their customers that they can visit the AER’s Energy Made Easy website to check whether there is a better offer available from another retailer.
The ICRC draft decision, which is based on information up to 29 January, 2020, will be updated in its final report using the most recent data available up to the end of May.
It is now open for public comment, and it can be found at https://www.icrc.act.gov.au/energy/electricity/retail-electricity-prices-2020-24.
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“We produce” means “the ACT produces” which it doesn’t. That is the point I was making.
Private energy prices have not dropped anywhere else in the world in the move to renewables, but I suppose Canberra might be different
Canberra residents pay about $5 a week on top of their average electricity bill to pay for the city's renewable energy.
So $260 and they give you back $100🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤣🤣
Fantastic news well done.. Keep it up!
Bring it on
“But we produce what we use (roughly) in renewables for the grid that is used elsewhere.”
I would like to see some figures to back that claim up. The only renewables produced in the ACT that I am aware of come from the solar farms at Majura, Mugga Lane and Royalla and the LFG generators at the MLRMC. The token hydro generator at the Burra is now switched off.
And don’t forget, the solar power generated is only part time, totally useless for cold winter nights.
I am by no means knowledgeable in this area but my understanding is that the ACT does not produce enough renewable energy to supply our needs but instead we buy renewable sourced power from interstate.
What I am curious about is if we checked every minute, what percentage of the day our requirements are being met by renewables and what percentage of the day at least some of our electricity is coming from coal or gas?
For example, at 3am on a calm winter night how is the electricity being generated?
Is our electricity really 100% renewable or is it some sort of trading scheme sleight of hand?
“Is our electricity really 100% renewable”
No one in the ACT government said the ACT had 100% renewables. They actually said the ACT had net 100% renewables, a very different thing. Net 100% renewables means that over the course of a year the the contractual arrangements the ACT has with renewable energy providers across Australia produce a minimum of 100% of the total energy usage of the ACT. The energy those renewable energy providers produce is pushed out onto the grid and shared by all connected to the grid.
“We produce” means “the ACT produces” which it doesn’t. That is the point I was making.
It’s really virtue signalling on a grand scale. Hopefully it gives us all a “warm feeling”, especially on cold, winter nights.
This question has been analysed here – https://sites.google.com/view/100-renewable-act/home
“Using 12 months of data from Nov 2018 to October 2019 it is possible to assert the following:
Wind and solar generated 93% of the ACT’s net demand over the period.
75% of the ACT’s electricity could theoretically have been supplied directly from the wind and solar generation (ie. without the need of any storage)
the remaining 25% would need to have been sourced from other generators on the grid
18% of the wind and solar generation was, at the time it was generated, in excess of the ACT’s need, and instead was used by users in other states. It had the effect of greening their electricity supply.
94% of the time wind and solar generation exceeded 100 MW, which corresponds to the average demand requirements of about 125,000 ACT homes.
80% of the time wind and solar generation exceeded 50% of ACT Demand
44% of the time wind and solar generation exceeded 100% of ACT demand.”
So am I understanding this correctly: “44% telly of the time wind and solar generation exceeded 100% of ACT demand.”
Does that mean that approximately 56% of the time the wind and solar generation is not sufficient to meet the ACT’s demand?
So if we only used those sources and if other sources were turned off we wouldn’t have enough power more than half the time?
What is so hard to understand about that quoted reference CR?
The Territory buys enough power from renewable sources to offset what it actually uses. It is used elsewhere (I.e. wherever the demand in the grid is at the time), but it offsets the amount used in the Territory. The Territory has purchase agreements in place with those renewable energy producers – i.e. they’ve been set up because of ACT Government support. You have just got your knickers in a knot because those facilities aren’t all actually in the ACT. But that quote doesn’t say that at all.
I just don’t believe it, so give me some figures to make it easier to understand.
The purpose of my comment was I wanted proof that the ACT produces almost the same amount of renewable energy that it consumes as was claimed by someone else. You have confirmed that it doesn’t and by the way, I don’t wear knickers, thank you.
But it appears to be true that the ACT could not make do with only Solar and Wind. More than half the time there is not enough power being generated by those sources to meet our needs.
People can play sleight of hand tricks all they want but that doesn’t change the fact (if I’m reading the figures correctly) that if we only relied on those sources we would not have enough electricity for the city more often than we would have sufficient.
Especially in winter the people would be in panic as our electrical system failed.
The claim that we do have enough is much like being pulled over for speeding and trying to get out by claiming that yes, while you were doing 200kph when you passed the cop, once they took into consideration all the times you were stopped at traffic lights and stuck behind slow vehicles, on average you were under the speed limit.
Anyone trying that argument in the courts would be laughed at, and the same reaction is suitable for people claiming our power is 100% renewable.
Sorry but a fall of $100 won’t make that much of a difference when your annual power bill is around $4,000 to $5,000.
WOW :O is that for a business or farm? My home Supply charges for electricity the last year was less than $400. (Plus of course some extra for a connection charge.) My house is all electric. Then with the addition of solar, I don't pay anything; I get paid. If it's for a house, all I can suggest is insulation and more insulation. It makes a HUGE difference to the power bill.
Added: I see it’s 6%, so that means I get a reduction of $24. You will get a bigger reduction than that.
Anne Maegaard Willenborg the fall isn't $100. That's the average reduction. Look at the 6% expected reduction - you would get $240-$300 off a $4k-5k bill.
Finally! Thank god!
“The ICRC says network costs, which make up about 40 per cent of overall electricity prices, are not expected to change substantially when the Australian Energy Regulator releases them in May.”
So the daily supply charge could actually rise, which would offset any falls in electricity prices which are actually passed through to customers (“average” or otherwise).
This would hardly be surprising, given that the noise levels about the need to upgrade the grid have been rising – an interesting contrast to the claims, a few years back, about “gold-plating of the grid” (rather than renewables) being the real cause of rapidly rising power bills.
Anyway, bills which end up being roughly the same (rather than rising at a gallop) will be a relief for people whose incomes have been roughly the same for some time now.
Network charges will only go up by CPI or something in that region at most. They are partway through a regulatory period and the price path is already determined – its just the normal adjustments along the way. All the detail is available on the AER website.
If it happens the 6.7% decrease is great when your paying around $3000 a year. The $100 is the average, its the percentage discount on your own bill that counts.
If you want to lower your electricity bills, stop complaining and insulate your houses.
*than*..... it's more than.
I'll believe it when I see it, it will be sucked into some other tax, rates, etc.
And yet, the story deliberately hides the total cost of ownership for this white elephant. Save $100 dollars per year at the cost of $200 per year to establish the technology and then decommission at end of life.
Which winter can i look forward to this...ice age
Gee now I will be able to buy 1 extra cup of coffee a month. Thank you labor, you're still not getting my vote.
Roberta Lynne Anning if you’re paying more than $8 a coffee I suggest you find a new coffee spot!
Roberta Lynne Anning better thsn anything the LNP have done
So you will let your own prejudices and pride get in the way of what is actually working and good for the city. Name one thing that was cheaper under the LNP. They privatised a lot of things, but nothing has got cheaper. They make you pay less tax, so you can just pay their mates more money for worse service. Feel free to put some actual thoughts and rational argument behind your opinion.
Jordana Martin well I'll be able to get raisin toast as well. 😋
Dreamers
Lol 100 less a year.
WOW $100 LESS A YEAR 😯 Come on is this even news worthy. How about make the article read “Canberra household to pay less in electricity. $1.92 a week less”. See how that goes for news🤔
Allan AJ if your 100 means nothing to you, I can suggest some charities who'd welcome the donation.
Allan AJ it's giant news when it goes up by that much, so why not when it goes down.
Or the fact that it went down at all.
Cathy Dearnley 2018 - The average ACT household's annual gas and electricity bill has risen by $378 in a year, according to a new analysis of energy prices.
Allan AJ according to this it will be dropping so that old analysis doesn’t mean much now.
And considering the average weekly income in the ACT is $1801.30, $1.92 will mean nothing to a lot of people
Allan AJ median income is a more meaningful figure to get a sense of where most people are at. The median weekly income is a lot lower. Can't find it now though because am on my phone. That said Canberra has one of the highest median incomes in the world.
Anne O'Brien median is still $1512 for ACT
You've completely missed the point Allan AJ. It's not about whether it's affordable, or a significant amount. The Federal Govt and its chorus of supporting media hacks continue to claim electricity prices are increasing because of renewable energy, so this is evidence that that is wrong, so very wrong!
Daniel J. Fitzpatrick not me. I’m a low income earner and have solar to keep my bills down. Which means I’ll see even less of the $100 a year saving. But that wasn’t the point. It’s a rubbish news article trying to make it look like we are saving in one hand while they steal from the other. Awesome deception.
Alan... I've been paying ACT electricity bills for more than 30 years so I don't need telling how much they've risen by. I'll be very pleased to pay less. If 100 means nothing to you then I'd suggest you've not felt the pinch so much in the pocket. Just enjoying a bit of online whingeing
Believe it when I see it.. More like $100 more