Customers with a debt of more than $2500 for more than 24 months had risen by an alarming 39 per cent under the strain of higher bills,the figures showed,while half of all customers in financial hardship programs were failing to meet ongoing energy usage costs,amassing even more debt.
Regulator chairwoman Clare Savage said the trends reaffirmed the need for “game-changer” market reforms to deal with the way the nation’s energy system dealt with low-income households facing worsening debt.
“Some customers have already faced double-digit price rises of up to 20 per cent for electricity and 15 per cent for gas in this current financial year,” she said.
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“Many of the debt and hardship metrics and indicators presented in our report may worsen over time because of the impact of rising wholesale gas and electricity costs in 2022.”
State and federal energy ministers are assessing a range of potential market interventions to blunt the sharp rises in east-coast energy costs,including setting unprecedented limits on the prices that coal and gas producers can sell to power stations and other domestic buyers.
“Just as we brought state and territory governments together to take urgent action to keep the lights on in our first month in office … I’m confident we will be able to reach agreement on a plan that delivers for every part of Australia,” Albanese said at an Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry event on Wednesday night.