With just two weeks to go until Victorians head to the polls, both Labor and the Libs are doubling down on their state election promises to address the rising cost of living. Premier Daniel Andrews‘ latest announcement was a pledge to bring back the $250 Power Saving Bonus payments to help households cover their electricity bills. Maybe I won’t have to spend all of next winter in freezing darkness.
The Andrews Government offered one-off $250 electricity bill payments to all Vic households in 2021 and it set up the Victorian Energy Compare site to help people find a cheaper power deal amid rising costs. The site’s still going strong and the payments will be available again from March 2023
“Private energy companies rely on people not getting the best deal on their power. In fact, they bank on it. It will mean more money in your pocket now plus savings, each year, every year,” Andrews said.
A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will bring back another round of the $250 Power Saving Bonus.
It’s already helped thousands of Victorians find a better deal on their energy bills.
And now it’ll help thousands more. pic.twitter.com/88X0VCYYzN
— Victorian Labor (@VictorianLabor) November 13, 2022
Andrews also announced it would bring back the publicly-owned State Electricity Commission (SEC), which would create 59,000 jobs and support renewable energy projects for years to come.
“It’s no coincidence that ever since privatisation we’ve seen shortages in so many trades,” Andrews said on Sunday.
“Our new SEC will help us find the next generation of tradespeople: maintenance workers, lineys, electricians but also welders, painters and mechanics. Highly qualified, highly paid workers working not for profit, but for people,” he said.
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The announcement of the new round of $250 payments came literally hours after Opposition Leader promised a Coalition state government would subsidise electricity supply charges on bills for the first half of 2023, saving each household about $235 in that time.
Andrews came out with his new promise almost immediately and called it a better deal.
To be fair, the onus will be on us to apply for these payments, whereas Guy’s plan would’ve kicked in automatically for everyone.
But hey, Andrews’ strategy seems to be working because he’s ahead in the opinion polls.
This announcement also came a day after Andrews reiterated his commitment to in a bunch of public places around the state. He’s really pulling out the big guns — as he should!
In other news, early voting for the state election opened on Monday so if you can’t get out to vote on election day (November 26), get a wriggle on and do it now.
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