Canberrans can expect a slight reprieve on their power bills over the coming financial year, with the ACT set to be the only jurisdiction in Australia to experience a decline in electricity prices.
The territory's Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission has made the determination to decrease standing offers by at least 1.25 per cent, which could save the average household about $23 a year.
The decrease has been attributed to a decline in the territory government's scheme costs. This declined due to fall in the large-scale feed-in-tariff cost, which account for about 86 per cent of the territory's scheme costs in 2022-23.
Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission senior commissioner Joe Dimasi said the decline in the scheme had more than offset the increase in wholesale electricity costs.
"ACT is the only jurisdiction in the national electricity market where regulated tariffs will decline in 2022-23. The average annual bill for Canberrans on standing offers will be the lowest compared to the average standing offer bills faced by customers in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia," Mr Dimasi said.
The cost for electricity for an average household in NSW will be more than $800 higher than the ACT.
Households in NSW are expected to pay about $2625 over the next financial year, whereas an ACT household would only pay $1807.
Under the commission's ruling, 1.25 per cent is the minimum decrease that can be passed onto Canberra customers.
If the minimum decrease is applied to a standing offer, an average Canberra household consuming 6500kWh a year would save about $23 a year on their power bills.
A small household could save $13 and a larger household would save up to $26. An average business consuming 25,000kWh would save $88.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the decline would be significant in the face of cost-of-living pressures.
"In real terms this is a very significant reduction considering where inflation is in the country at the moment and contrasting our position with that of the other states and territories, it demonstrates the long-term benefits of the policy directions that we have been pursuing since 2012," Mr Barr said.
Over the past decade the ACT government has switched its power sources to renewable energy by entering into contracts with solar and wind farms across Australia.
Mr Barr said the territory's shift to renewable energy contracts over the past 10 years had shielded the ACT against the upward pressures that had caused power prices to rise across Australia.
"It achieves a dual objective, clearly 100 per cent renewable electricity from these renewable sources for that fixed price that mean that situations like the nation is facing at the moment... when we are seeing significant upward pressure on energy prices across the nation that the ACT is very well insulated from this price increases," he said.
"At various points in the pricing cycle that fixed price arrangement has meant ups and downs but what it does mean for the ACT is relative pricing stability."
Power prices did rise in the territory last year by nearly 12 per cent, which represented a spike of about $200.
Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury said he was pleased that Canberra's energy prices were among the affordability in the nation amid the shift to renewable energy.
"The ACT government is obviously very concerned about the state of the energy market that we're seeing across the country," he said.
"The significant increase in prices driven by the global geopolitics of energy, particularly on fossil fuels is impacting on Australian consumers.
"We are very pleased that the ACT's contracts are insulating customers against this very significant increase."
Low-income households in Canberra can access a $750 concession from the ACT government on their power bills. Mr Barr said between 30,000 to 36,000 households could be eligible for the rebate.
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