Tassie tariff tweak could hit bottom line
The head of Tasmanian energy provider TasNetworks says scrapping a discounted energy rate will not drive up household power costs.
The company is considering getting rid of Tariff 41; a common household charge for heating and water currently billed at the heavily discounted rate of 17 cents a day.
If not for Tariff 41, most household power would be charged under Tariff 31; a general lighting and power rate billed at around 90 cents a day.
TasNeworks CEO Lance Balcombe told ABC reporters this week that the change should not result in a significant hike for the average family power bill.
He said that Tariff 31 subsidises Tariff 41, so its rate would fall if Tariff 41 was gone.
“I could argue today that Tariff 31 is a lot higher than it ought to be because of the existence of Tariff 41,” Mr Balcombe said.
He said while scrapping Tariff 41 was not certain, it may bring down the price of using heating appliances.
“One of the challenges we have is that if I've got a hard-wired heater in my house, I can get that at Tariff 41 but if I plug a heater into the wall I get charged at Tariff 31,” he said.