Wholesale prices – what electricity retailers pay for power supply before they on-sell it to households – reached a record high in the second quarter of this year,ranging from $210 a megawatt hour to $257 a megawatt hour.
Forward contract prices for wholesale electricity,which indicate the future cost of retail power and household bills,are even higher and are selling for up to $345 a megawatt hour into next year.
Quarterly wholesale gas prices averaged around $26 a gigajoule,up from $10 a year earlier.
Loading
Last month’s federal budget said retail power prices had already risen more than 20 per cent,and were forecast to rise a further 30 per cent next year.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers saysall options on the table to rein in power prices,which could include a price cap on coal and gas or new taxes on resources companies that generates revenue to spend on direct subsidies for households and businesses.
“The chaos in energy markets brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine is really the defining challenge in the global economy,” he said.