The second instalment of energy bill relief is now flowing to thousands of South Australian households and small businesses, providing vital support in the lead up to Christmas.
In the June state budget, the state government committed $127.2 million for the National Energy Bill Relief Plan, matched dollar for dollar by the Commonwealth ($254.4 million in total over two years).
The Plan provides energy bill reductions of $500 for up to 420,000 eligible households, and a rebate of up to $650 for 86,000 eligible small businesses. The reductions are applied directly to recipients’ energy bills in the current 2023 24 billing year.
Energy retailers are now applying the reductions to recipients’ bills for the second quarter.
The relief is applied automatically to the bills of existing state concession recipients and has been expanded to include Commonwealth Family Tax Benefit recipients, people receiving a Carer Allowance and holders of certain Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) cards not currently eligible for the existing energy concession.
Commonwealth Government agency Services Australia has been contacting new eligible households directly and inviting them to apply. Those who did not receive relief during the first quarter who were eligible will have a higher amount applied across their remaining bills, ensuring they receive the full $500 amount.
Those households receiving both the existing State government concession of $263.15 and the jointly-funded rebate will save up to $763.15 in 2023-24.
The Default Market Offer prices (DMO) final determination released by the Australian Energy Regulator showed residential prices were expected to increase by about $439 (23.9 per cent) on the average electricity bill in South Australia in 2023-24.
The reduction of $500 from bills will see eligible households with an average electricity bill save around 3.3 per cent on their bill in 2023-24, or around 5.2 per cent if they also receive the SA energy concession.
In further welcome news for small businesses, the state government has also extended the $650 energy bill reduction to thousands of additional businesses on embedded networks, such as retailers in shopping centres, from early next year.
Business SA raised concerns with government that businesses on embedded networks risked missing out solely because they do not receive their bill directly from an energy retailer.
Following representations to federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, changes to the eligibility criteria have now been approved to ensure these businesses on these embedded networks will also be eligible for energy bill reductions.
This expansion will increase the number of small businesses that can now access the scheme by several thousand.
In total, the June state budget provided $471.3 million for cost of living relief for South Australians – in the largest package of cost of living relief measures ever deployed in South Australia.
In addition to energy bill relief, the package also includes:
*A reduction in the school materials and services charge by $100 per child, benefiting the parents of 120,000 school children ($12 million in 2023-24)
* Indexation of the existing cost of living concession by 8.64% 2023 24 to benefit over 200,000 recipients ($44 million over five years)
* Cheaper hospital car parking and free public transport for hospital workers ($56.4 million over five years)
* Increased carer payments of an additional $50 per fortnight per child or young person for general foster or kinship carers from 1 July 2023, in additional to annual indexation ($32.1 million over four years)
* Expanded school breakfast program: $6.5 million over four years.
*Additional support for food charities, including Foodbank: $4 million over four years; and additional support for financial counselling: $1.0 million over two years.
* Additional funding to non-government organisations (NGOs) to meet the increased costs supporting the most vulnerable in our community ($57.2 million over four years)
As put by Stephen Mullighan
There are a lot of South Australian households and businesses under pressure right now, which is why we are providing targeted support to help those most in need in our community.
Our June state budget provided the largest package of cost-of-living relief measures ever deployed in South Australia – a large part of that to reduce energy bills.
As we head into Christmas, a reduction in energy bills will provide some relief at what is traditionally a very expensive time of year.
