There’s been a lot of buzz in the news and on social media about energy prices. So we’ve put together a few FAQs to help explain what’s going on.
Volatility in the wholesale energy markets has recently led to large price rises in both wholesale electricity and gas. These have flowed through to the retail prices and is currently impacting energy retailers across Australia.
Local and global events like the situation in Ukraine, the floods in Queensland and recent problems with some Australian coal plants, have put enormous pressure on the energy supply chain. This has pushed prices up in the wholesale energy market. (If you’d like more detail about this, we’ve gone further down the rabbit hole here.)
It depends on what happens in the wholesale energy market. While wholesale prices are so high, retailers need to price their plans accordingly.
Russia is one of the world’s largest gas and coal exporters. But with the recent sanctions effectively removing their supply from most of the global market, the demand for gas and coal around the world has increased. Gas and coal are the main sources of electricity in Australia, so that’s why prices here have also increased here.
Our parent company (Hydro Tasmania) is Australia’s largest generator of renewable energy and will continue to generate its clean, renewable energy into the grid.
But no matter which power company you’re with, the electricity comes from the same energy pool (you may know it as ‘the grid’). It’s a mix of energy from both renewable and non-renewable sources – like coal.
The volatility of wholesale energy prices we are seeing at the moment is impacting the whole energy sector.
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