HARDSHIP UTILITY GRANT
SCHEME — SYNERGY AND HORIZON POWER
657. Hon
TIM CLIFFORD to the minister representing the Minister for Energy:
I thank the minister for his recent
response to my question regarding power prices. I now further inquire to make
comparisons with the previous year.
(1) How many of
the hardship utility grant scheme applications in the 2016–17 financial
year were exclusively for electricity bills?
(2) How many
households in WA were disconnected in the 2016–17 financial year and
for what reasons?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) For the 2016–17
financial year, there were 39 012 hardship utility grant scheme applications.
Of these, 28 405 were from electricity providers. The figures represent the
total number of successful applications provided, not the total number of
individuals who received a HUGS grant. Individuals can receive more than one
grant in a calendar year and therefore may be represented more than once in the
data.
(2) In the 2016–17
financial year, 25 751 Synergy customers were disconnected. Of these, 15 125
were disconnected for non-payment and 10 626 were disconnected for using energy
with no application for an account. In the 2016–17 financial year, 4 072
Horizon Power customers were disconnected. Of these, 3 400 were disconnected
for non-payment and 672 were disconnected for using energy with no application
for an account.