By Jessica Wang
A welfare advocate has warned Australians struggling with soaring energy costs are giving up food and medication, with increases to minimum wage and a $150 extension to the energy rebate doing little to soothe rising bill shock.
Adelaide public housing resident Mel Fisher, 43, said she鈥檚 been forced to stay in bed as a way to keep warm during bitter winter days so she can avoid using heating in her draughty, concrete, two-bedroom house.
鈥淚t鈥檚 absolutely freezing. I live in public housing, so it has no insulation at all and the interior and exterior are concrete walls, so once they get cold, they stay cold,鈥 she told NewsWire.
The Elizabeth Vale woman recently received notice from her energy provider Engie that her yearly bill will increase by $634 from Wednesday.
When asked about Labor鈥檚 $150 six-month energy rebate, which kicks in from July 1, she grimly responds: 鈥淎lbanese鈥檚 subsidy isn鈥檛 fixing this鈥.
Ms Fisher currently pays about $120 a fortnight on electricity bills, nearly 15 per cent of her fortnightly JobSeeker payment, and is struggling with an energy debt – money owing to energy providers – of $6000.
Because she needs to run airconditioning during the summer to keep cool due to a health condition, she uses the winters to bring down her debt.
鈥淚 tried to change electricity companies, because this one has consistently been very high, but I still have to pay them off while paying the new electricity company … I just can鈥檛 do that,鈥 Ms Fisher said.
Antipoverty Centre co-ordinator Jay Coonan said Ms Fisher is one of more than 330,775 Australian households facing electricity bill debt, with the total amount of arrears totalling over $300m.
Under the Default Market Offer set by the Australian Energy Regulator, customers on standing offer contracts are set to have their bills increase by 7.9 per cent to 9.7 per cent in NSW, while residents in southeast Queensland will see hikes of 3.7 per cent, and 3.2 per cent in South Australia.
Calculated by the state Essential Services Commission, Victorians will have to weather a 1 per cent spike.
Alongside Anglicare and ACOSS, Mr Coonan is one of many advocacy groups calling on energy retailers and the government to absorb electricity bill debt and give households a chance to catch up.
Mr Coonan said bill stress was having a 鈥渃ompounding effect鈥 on cash-poor Australians, who were giving up medication and food to get by.
鈥淚t鈥檚 compounding into a crisis and if you can鈥檛 afford energy you’re going to be suffering more and more and living with less and less,鈥 he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 talking about people who are on the JobSeeker payment, and pensioners. These are the people who are in debt, who have no ability to be able to pay their bills because energy prices are high.鈥
Recent Anglicare research also found low-income earners were most affected by electricity bill debt, and despite the minimum wage going up by $32.06 a week from July 1, a worker on a full-time wage would have just $33 left over after paying for rent, food and transport.
A single-parent on would have just $1 remaining even if they received the full Family Tax Benefit and were on the highest rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance.
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said too many households were 鈥渇alling behind and staying behind鈥.
鈥淧eople are forced into payment plans they can鈥檛 sustain. They carry energy debt from one bill to the next with no chance of catching up, even though energy retailers are making record profits,鈥 she said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e calling for energy debt relief for people in hardship, and better regulation to stop the gauging of energy costs and helps people to start afresh.鈥
While Energy Minister Chris Bowen didn鈥檛 comment directly on calls to scrap the bill debt for households, he acknowledged energy was too expensive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear energy bills for many Australians remain higher than they should be 鈥 that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e providing help for people doing it tough as we deliver longer term reform, including making the energy retail market fairer,鈥 he said.
He pointed to recent rule changes that restrict price increases to once every 12 months, prohibit retail fees for vulnerable customers, and remove 鈥渦nreasonably high penalties鈥 for customers who aren鈥檛 able to pay their bill one time.
Coalition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said Labor 鈥渕ust honour鈥 its 2022 election commitment to reducing energy bills by $275 鈥 a policy the party didn鈥檛 rehash in the 2025 election.
鈥淎nthony Albanese and Chris Bowen said Australia was going to become an energy super power under their ideologically-driven renewable-only approach, yet the sad reality is that more and more Australians are being driven into energy poverty,鈥 he said.
His words come as the Coalition reviews its commitment to net-zero.
Mr Tehan went as far as to say that Mr Bowen should quit as minister if energy bills don鈥檛 come down.
鈥(He) should resign because his incompetence is sadly causing untold hardship to more and more people,鈥 Mr Tehan said.