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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1051 asked in the Legislative Council on 8 October 2020 by Hon Peter Collier

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

ELECTRICITY COMPETITION THRESHOLD

1051. Hon PETER COLLIER to the minister representing the Minister for Energy:

I refer to the answer to question without notice 946, in which the minister stated —

� the Minister for Energy has requested that Energy Policy WA investigate potential arrangements required to deliver retail choice for small business electricity customers.

(1) Do the potential arrangements for small businesses include lowering the electricity competition threshold below 50 megawatt hours; and, if not, why not?

(2) Will the minister table the request to Energy Policy WA to investigate potential arrangements for small business electricity customers; and, if not, why not?

(3) If yes to (1), why can businesses have access to competition but not households?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for Energy.

(1) Yes.

(2) I am unable to do so, as the request was made orally. I made an initial request to Energy Policy WA for advice on 9 May 2019 as part of a more general discussion of stakeholder representations addressing this and other matters.

(3) Currently, small businesses in embedded networks pay some of the highest cost electricity in Western Australia. These small businesses do not have the option of buying electricity from Synergy, and so do not benefit from having a government energy offer. These reforms will, for the first time, allow these small businesses to obtain the benefit of Synergy's energy offer. This is the reverse for householders, who already benefit from obtaining Synergy's offer. Further, it is also important to note that the A1 tariff is below the cost of supply—that is, householders receive a subsidised electricity price from Synergy.