Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, it received overwhelming support in the party room but not sufficient support in all aspects for it to be carried through the House of Representatives in the current circumstances. What the government announced earlier today is our plan to further reduce power prices. Indeed, in accelerating our response to the ACCC report, which we commissioned, firstly we will create a default power bill offer for households and small businesses, which is consistent with recommendation 30 of the ACCC's report. This is not a price cap but, instead, a requirement for all retailers to make a new, cheaper offer, set every year, based on the AER's estimate of the efficient cost of the retailer's operation. The AER sets one default offer for each network distribution area. The ACCC estimates that for average customers on an inflated standing offer the savings on moving to a new default market offer could range between $183 and $416. For average small and medium-sized businesses on a standing offer they could range between $561 and $1,457.

We will also give ourselves a big stick to make energy companies lower their prices and we will move more quickly to implement the remaining ACCC recommendations—in particular recommendation 1, recommendation 4, recommendation 32 and recommendation 33. For average customers, as I've already indicated, on an inflated standing offer the savings on moving to a new default market offer could range between $183 and $416.