GAS prices are expected to soar in the next year with Victorian residents to pay more than $300 a year more on their bill.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The figure comes from a report undertaken by the Grattan Institute, which says the emergence of the gas export industry will result in a jump in prices.
Grattan energy program director Tony Wood said while gas usage varied from home to home, higher usage was normally experienced in Victoria where colder conditions were expected meaning the state would be hard hit.
“A lot of the emphasis on the last two years has been on electricity, because it has gone up a lot and people haven’t noticed that their gas bills have been climbing,” he said.
“We can expect to see some years of pretty steep increases.”
Mr Wood also hit out a recent policy to roll out natural gas connections to rural areas, saying given the rising costs it didn’t seem like a good option.
The report, Gas at the crossroads: Australia’s hard choice, says gas prices have already increased by 36 per cent over the past five years, with electricity rising as much as 60 per cent over the same period of time.
The Salvation Army’s Western Victoria communications and fund-raising secretary Major Vic Pitman-Jones said Ballarat would be one of the areas hardest hit should the cost hike come to fruition, mainly due to the cold weather.
“We have cold winters and it will be really tough no matter what their wage is but particularly for those on low or fixed income, it will be difficult for them,” he said,
“It will hit the pensioners particularly hard, there are only so many layers of clothes you can put on before it becomes uncomfortable.
“I guess in some ways it is a sign of the cost of living going up – that happens – but at the same time incomes are not going up at the same rate so they don’t have the same spending power they did before.”
matthew.dixon@fairfaxmedia.com.au