LNP Shadow Energy Minister Michael Hart has called on the Palaszczuk Labor Government to implement retail competition in regional Queensland, with the benefits highlighted in today’s Queensland Competition Authority report.
“Labor’s own Queensland Competition Authority report, released today, shows the benefits of competition in the electricity market for customers in southeast Queensland,” Mr Hart said.
“In June, the LNP announced we would introduce competition into the regional electricity market and today’s report is another endorsement that competition in the market works.
“Southeast Queenslanders have up to 16 retailers to choose from, but regional Queenslanders have just one.
“People in Southeast Queensland are getting up to 20 cents per kilowatt/hour for their solar feed-in, more than twice the amount offered by Ergon Energy in Regional Queensland.
“This means they are missing out on hundreds of dollars of savings.
“Based on the experience in the southeast, introducing choice for customers in regional Queensland will reduce electricity bills by hundreds of dollars a year.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to stop treating Regional Queenslanders as second-class citizens and adopt the LNP’s policy of introducing competition into the regional electricity market.
“Retail competition will boost incentive to install solar panels in regional areas.
“While Annastacia Palaszczuk continues to ignore key recommendations from her own electricity enquiry, regional Queenslanders will continue to miss out on the benefits of retail competition.
“Only the LNP will fix the divide between the regions and Southeast Queensland.”
