GRIEVANCE DEBATE
Ms COMER (Petrie) (13:05): I rise today with a pretty simple message on behalf of households, pensioners, families and small businesses across Petrie: when energy prices come down, people should see that reflected in their bills, not buried in fine print, not cancelled out by new fees and certainly not delayed for months while energy companies work out how much savings they can keep.
Those savings should be passed on to the hardworking women and men of Australia. People in our community are doing everything they can to manage their household budgets. They are checking their bills.
They're switching off at the wall. They're running appliances at different times, and they're trying to make every single dollar stretch that bit further. Small businesses are doing the same.
Local cafes, hairdressers, tradies, shops, manufacturers and community clubs are all watching their costs closely. For them, electricity is not a luxury. It is not optional.
It is one of the basic costs of keeping the doors open. So, when the independent Australian Energy Regulator says the default market offer is coming down in south-east Queensland due to the reductions in wholesale electricity costs, people in Petrie should feel that across the retail offers. It should mean lower bills.
It should mean real cost-of-living relief. The default market offer matters because it is the benchmark price that protects customers on standing offers and helps shape pricing across the market. In south-east Queensland, that benchmark is heading in the right direction.
That is good news for households and small businesses. For a long time, the debate around energy has been dominated by fear campaigns and slogans directed by the other side, but the truth is the work the Albanese Labor government has been doing is starting to show results. Trigger warning for those opposite—more renewable energy, more storage, more investment in the grid, a more sustainable wholesale market and a solar share offer are all helping to take pressure off of power bills.
That is what we've been working towards. We have delivered energy bill relief, backed cheaper and cleaner energy, invested in renewables, batteries and transmission, and supported households and small businesses through a difficult cost-of-living period. We're seeing electricity prices in south-east Queensland starting to come down through that default market offer, but here is the issue: a price drop only helps people if it actually reaches them.
A lower benchmark does not mean much to the pensioner in Redcliffe if their bill stays the same. It does not mean much to the family in North Lakes if the savings are swallowed up by higher fixed charges. It does not mean much to the small businesses in Deception Bay if they're stuck on a bad plan.
That is why energy providers are on notice. If companies operating in Petrie do not pass on these savings to local households and small businesses, they should expect to be called out. If retailers' prices are falling, they should be passed on to the consumer.
If a company offers a better deal to new customers while leaving loyal customers on worse plans, that should be exposed. If providers refuse to give people in Petrie a fair go, I will name and shame them. People deserve transparency.
They deserve honesty, and they deserve the full benefit of falling energy prices. This is not about having a go at the providers that are doing the right thing. If retailers pass along savings, explain changes clearly and help customers move onto better plans, they deserve credit for that, but any company that uses complexity to avoid giving customers a fair deal should expect scrutiny.
We all know energy bills can be confusing. Daily supply charges, usage rates, time-of-use tariffs, controlled load and solar feed-in tariffs can make it hard enough for a person to work out what they're actually paying, let alone whether they're on the best deal. People should not need a law degree or a background in energy policy to know whether they're getting a fair price for electricity.
That complexity can work against consumers. It can make it harder to compare offers. It can punish people who have stayed with the same provider for years.
It can allow savings to disappear before they ever reach a household budget. That's not good enough. This is why the Albanese government has put more protections in place for energy users.
From this week, new rules for retailers will stop sneaky price hikes, preventing retailers from increasing prices more than once a year. They'll prevent customers from being charged more than the standing offer price if the initial low-cost offer changes or expires. They'll ban excessive retailer charges, like late payment fees, for all retail contracts and ensure all customers will be entitled to a fee-free payment method.
From later this year, they will ensure vulnerable Australians are receiving the best offer from their retailer, placing a stronger onus on the retailers to assist hardship customers. The government is even committed to making energy free for three hours a day. With the solar sharer offer, energy will be free between 11 am and 2 pm in south-east Queensland.
I look forward to actually using that myself. When wholesale costs fall, when benchmark costs fall and when the independent regulator says prices should be lower, people should see that clearly and fairly on their bill. This matters in Petrie because our community is full of people who are already doing their best.
We have families with young kids, pensioners on fixed incomes, students, shift workers, small-business owners and community organisations. For them, energy prices are not some abstract policy debate. They are part of the weekly budget.
They're the difference between feeling like you're getting ahead and feeling like you're falling behind. They're the difference between using the air conditioner on a hot Queensland night and worrying about what the next bill is going to look like. They're the difference between a small business putting money into new equipment and it putting it aside for electricity costs.
That is why this issue needs close attention. Over the coming months, I'll be encouraging people in Petrie to check their bills and compare their offers on energymadeeasy.gov.au and ask their provider one simple question: am I getting the benefit of the price drop? If the answer is no, they should ask why.
If that answer is not good enough, I'll want to know about it. Retailers should be able to explain exactly what they're going to do to pass along the savings to customers in Petrie. They should be treating existing customers as fairly as new customers.
Small businesses should be seeing the reductions they are entitled to. Loyalty should not be punished. A pensioner who has been with the same energy company for 15 years should not be paying more simply because they did not spend hours shopping around online.
A busy family should not be left on a worse plan because they missed the notice buried halfway through their bill. A small-business owner should not have to spend half a day trying to decode energy tariffs just to make sure they're not being ripped off. If prices are coming down, bills should come down.
It really is that simple. The Albanese Labor government understands that the cost of living is still the biggest pressure facing many households. We know that people have had to deal with higher grocery bills, higher rents, higher mortgage repayments and higher insurance costs.
That is why every bit of relief matters. Energy bill relief matters, tax cuts matter, cheaper medicines matter, strengthening Medicare matters and making sure power price reductions are actually passed on matters. This is about fairness.
When government action helps bring costs down, families and small businesses should not be left waiting while big companies protect their margins. When the market improves, ordinary people should feel that benefit. When retailers are doing the wrong thing, they should be held accountable.
I welcome regulators looking closely at retailer behaviour, I welcome scrutiny of pricing practices and I welcome this government's actions that will make the energy market fairer and easier for consumers to understand. But local members of parliament have a role to play too. My job is to stand up for Petrie, to make sure households in my community are not ignored, to make sure small businesses get a fair deal and to make sure that, when a price drop is announced, people actually see it.
So let me be clear. Retailers should not expect silence if they fail to pass along savings. Complicated bills are not an excuse.
A lower benchmark price must lead to lower local bills. Loyal customers should not be treated as easy targets. The message from Petrie is clear.
Energy providers need to do the right thing. They need to pass along savings, explain changes clearly, treat existing customers fairly and support small businesses, and make sure the lower energy prices reach the people they're meant to help. The Albanese Labor government is working to bring energy prices down.
The default market offer shows progress is being made. Now retailers need to do their part. Cost-of-living relief only matters if it lands in the household budgets.
A lower benchmark only matters if it reduces real bills, and a fair energy system only works if people can trust that the savings will be passed on. That is what I will fight for, that is what the people of Petrie expect and that is why any provider that fails to give our community a fair deal should expect to be named and shamed.