FARMERS say the Queensland Competition Authority’s decision not to pass on network electricity price savings to farmers and other businesses on transitional and obsolete tariffs is a betrayal of rural and regional communities.
Queensland Farmers’ Federation president Stuart Armitage said farmers were at breaking point because of unsustainable price increases.
Mr Armitage said the QCA draft determination of 2018-19 electricity prices for regional Queensland does nothing to help farmers producing food, fibre and foliage mitigate the spiralling costs of operating essential farm infrastructure.
It seems that the Queensland Government has picked its winners, and it is not irrigated agriculture.
- Stuart Armitage
“While the price drop for regional households and some small business is good news, is does nothing to relieve Queensland’s highly productive intensive farming businesses,” Mr Armitage said
“The QCA claims that specific tariffs for some small businesses and irrigators are not cost-reflective and therefore ineligible to receive the small price relief – QFF challenges this.
“It must be demonstrated how these tariffs are not cost-reflective, particularly in light of the price decreases proposed for other industry sectors. Reasoning like ‘network congestion’ has been proven not to be true.”
Mr Armitage said it was disappointing that despite QCA acknowledging that Ergon’s network charges and generation costs are declining, these would not be passed onto farmers on irrigation tariffs.
“It seems that the Queensland Government has picked its winners, and it is not irrigated agriculture,” Mr Armitage said.
“Irrigation electricity tariffs in Queensland have risen a minimum of 136pc over the past decade, and for some more than 200pc, while CPI has increased by just 24pc over the same period.”
“The number of irrigating farm businesses in Queensland has fallen by more than 42pc since 2009-10 to just 5416 in 2015-16. A major contributor to this decline has been the cost of electricity.”
“Government must act to deliver price relief now and offer suitable tariffs for the future or broader consequences like exports and local supply will be impacted,” Mr Armitage said.
According to Queensland Productivity Commission data, there are around 35,000 customers in regional Queensland on tariffs classified as transitional or obsolete. More than 35pc of them face bill increases in excess of 50pc when they are forced on to standard tariffs mid-2020.
