Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasury modelling and the recent analysis by Big Switch Projects on larger business users demonstrated an average price rise of around 11 per cent due to the carbon price. That is why it is very important to get the facts on the table. That is why it is very important to analyse this so we do not have statements in the public arena which are unsupported and which could mislead the public about the impact of generator costs and the carbon price on electricity prices.

They found that the impact of the carbon price for most businesses is at or just over 2c per kilowatt hour, which is what the Treasury modelling predicted. What is also happening to large businesses is that many network companies have been increasing demand charges by as much as 75 per cent, which is resulting in overall bill increases of up to 53 per cent. So it is very important to unpack that and separate that out. If you look at that issue, you will see that the network costs are by far the greater component of the electricity price. These increases have nothing to do with— (Time expired)