When the Liberal Party announced it would be repealing its commitment to achieving net zero emissions, there was one key prevailing sentiment.
“Our priority is energy affordability and getting costs down for households and businesses,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said.
This was the first quote to come from the Liberal Party’s official statement on Thursday, demonstrating its focus on the cost element of the energy transition.
Ley continued.
“Under Labor, power bills are up nearly 40 per cent, household budgets are stretched to the limit, and industry and small businesses are collapsing under the weight of rising costs,” Ley said.
According to data from the Australian Energy Council, the average electricity price for Australian households from 2023–25 was $0.39 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), just above the $0.38/kWh average for OECD average, which comprises 38 countries in total.
This indicates Australia electricity bills are the 15th most expensive of the 38 OECD countries, which is pushed to 24th place when compared with the cost of living of each country.
The Guardian reported that electricity prices have increased in the last three years, with the default market offer (DMO)* set out by the Australian Energy Regulator indicating a 30–32 per cent increase for Queensland and New South Wales, a 25 per cent increase in South Australia, and a 19 per cent increase in Victoria over this timeframe.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), on the other hand, suggests the electricity bills have instead decreased in the last three years: NSW and South Australia by 5–7 per cent, Queensland by 56 per cent, and Victoria by 17 per cent, with rebates to thank for these reductions.
Residents who install renewable energy themselves can save significantly. An example from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DCCEEW) found that a household with a 6.6kW rooftop solar system can save $4.90 per day on electricity bills. This was based on an average summer day, with the calculations avoiding a $0.35/kWh electricity price and achieving a $1.40 credit by exporting solar to the grid.
So where to now for the Liberal Party?
In an effort to increase affordability, the Liberal Party will look to, as part of its ‘technology-neutral’ Affordable Energy Scheme, “harness all available energy technologies to bring prices down”.
“This includes maintaining baseload power, supporting all forms of generation where it is required, unlocking new gas supply, and lifting the ban on zero emissions nuclear energy,” the Opposition said.
In doing this, the Liberal Party remains committed to the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C.
This will see the Party rethink the rollout, with the 82 per cent renewables by 2030 target scrapped, all contracts under the Capacity Investment Scheme and Rewiring the Nation initiatives that haven’t reached a final investment decision reviewed, and the reinstatement of the National Energy Objectives to focus the energy market on the “long-term interests of consumers” in relation to “price, quality, safety, reliability and security of supply”.
The Liberal Party is very much focused on an even energy mix, with emphasis given to coal, gas, hydro, batteries and renewables as necessary to keep prices down.
The Affordable Energy Scheme “supports both new and existing generation with modest, targeted underwriting to keep prices down”, “brings on new supply faster by giving investors certainty across all technologies”, and “prevents early closure of reliable generation until replacement capacity is ready, avoiding reliability gaps, price spikes and the risk of blackouts”.
There is no timeline for its policy, but the Liberal Party said it will align with the Paris Agreement by “reducing emissions on average year on year” across every five years as part of the Nationally Determined Contribution. The Opposition said emissions will be reduced as much as technologies allow “without imposing mandated costs”, with no interim targets to be announced.
*The DMO is the maximum price energy retailers can charge electricity consumers on default plans
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