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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 277 asked in the Legislative Council on 22 June 2017 by Hon Tim Clifford

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


HARDSHIP UTILITY GRANT SCHEME — SYNERGY
      277. Hon TIM CLIFFORD to the minister representing the Minister for Energy:
I refer to an article in The Sunday Times on 28 August 2016, stating that an average of 55 people a day had applied for the hardship utility grant scheme during the 2015–16 financial year and that approximately 10 000 Synergy customers were referred to HUGS in the same period.
      (1) How many people used the hardship utility grant scheme during the 2015–16 financial year as a result of an inability to pay electricity bills?
      (2) How many people used HUGS during the 2014–15 financial year as a result of an inability to pay electricity bills?
      (3) What was the net increase or decrease in use of HUGS across those two financial years?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following information has been provided by the Minister for Energy.
(1) A total of 9 646 people used the service during the 2015–16 financial year.
(2) A total of 14 680 people used the service during the 2014–15 financial year.
      (3) There was a decrease of 5 034 customers accessing the hardship utility grant scheme through Synergy between 2014–15 and 2015–16.