Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

We appreciate that many Australian households are doing it tough. That's why we want to make sure there is relief for their power bills. We know that many Australian businesses find high power costs a constraint which impacts on their ability to invest, to hire and to provide the wage growth that we all want to see.

That's why we've delivered the measures I outlined before and, importantly, it's why our National Energy Guarantee will see real benefits flow through—real benefits that are modelled to deliver a 23 per cent reduction in wholesale prices. That would make a meaningful difference to small businesses, such as the local supermarket in our home state of South Australia, Senator Fawcett, which would save almost half a million dollars per annum as a result of the National Energy Guarantee. The average household would see a saving of an estimated $400 off their power bill. That's why this policy has been so widely endorsed by consumer organisations, by those representing social welfare groups, by business and even by trade unions, because they all recognise the National Energy Guarantee will make a positive difference for Australia's future.