WHEN Forster man Bob Thorburn and his wife Ann relocated to the Great Lakes from Lake Macquarie recently they never thought they would be hit with such financial burden.
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The Thorburns, who lived in Forster in the 1990s, moved to Toronto for work opportunities before coming back to Forster in December to retire.
Moving back seemed like a good idea at the time until they received their first electricity bill from their provider Energy Australia in February.
Mr Thorburn says he “almost had a heart attack” after looking at the breakdown in charges on the bill. He was so concerned by what he saw he decided to compare the bill to his previous household bill in Toronto and to that of his two daughters in Long Jetty and Condobolin.
After doing so, the Thorburns discovered evident price discrepancies.
They found that in Forster, over a 78 day period, the daily electricity rate is $1.60 along with a quarterly government rebate of $38.84 while in Toronto over a 63 day period the rate is 79.25 cents per day with a quarterly rebate of $59.82 per quarter. In Long Jetty over 95 days the daily rate is 71 cents with a quarterly government rebate of $58.56 and in Condobolin the daily charge is $1.36 per day.
Mr Thorburn said after comparing the yearly prices with Toronto they are now paying an extra $320 a year for electricity living in Forster.
“If we had of known beforehand, we probably wouldn’t have moved back,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful area but we didn’t know we would be up for this much more.”
People relying purely on the pension, first home buyers or low income earners would be struggling to get by, Mrs Thorburn said.
“If you were relying solely on the pension you wouldn’t survive,” she said.
“And the irony is this is considered a retirement area.
“Even for young people starting out - how are they meant to pay their mortgage?”
Mr Thorburn recently raised the issue with Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead who referred his concerns on to the Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts.
Mr Roberts replied to Mr Thorburn in writing which was passed on via Mr Bromhead.
In the letter, the minister stated that electricity prices in NSW varied because “they reflect the range of costs to supply electricity to different areas. Electricity prices charged to customers include network costs (poles and wires), the wholesale cost of electricity purchased from generators and retail costs for administration and business operation.”
Mr Roberts also stated that prices in regional NSW are generally higher than those in suburban locations due to the network costs associated with transporting energy to regional towns.
He also suggested the Thorburn’s shop around to find a competitive deal.
“I’m not too impressed by that I don’t believe that’s the case at all,” Mr Thorburn said.
“Why is it cheaper for my daughter in Condobolin where the population would be a lot smaller than it would be here and why are there such differences in government rebates.
“It’s like their penalising people for the area they live in. There shouldn’t be such a huge difference. I honestly don’t know how they work it. It’s discriminatory.
“There’s been no proper answers to my questions.
“We just want prices to be fair and reasonable across the board.”
Mr Thorburn will meet with Mr Bromhead on Tuesday June 24 to discuss the issue.
He said he hopes Mr Bromhead will consider raising the issue in parliament.
The Advocate contacted Mr Bromhead but he declined to comment until he meets with Mr Thorburn.
An Energy Australia spokesperson confirmed the company is a retailer and is supplied by Integral Energry, now known as Origin Energy.
However, Energy Australia referred the Advocate’s questions onto the Energy Retailers Association of Australia (ERAA) which represents organisations who provide electricity and gas to almost 10 million Australian households and businesses.
The ERAA was also asked for comment but didn’t respond in time for publication.
