Some Newcastle residents will be paying more for electricity this week, following a number of letters being sent out by Energy Australia warning of a price hike.
Newcastle MP, Sharon Claydon said she was contacted by a number of residents who received letters from Energy Australia, warning of the increase as a result of increasing supply costs.
Energy Australia states in the letter, "After two years of holding prices flat while supply costs have increased significantly, we've made the difficult decision to adjust our prices with inflation."
The MP is criticizing the Federal Government for asserting energy prices are going down, when whole sale power prices have apparently risen by more than 20 percent since the appointment of Energy Minister Angus Taylor in August 2018.
"At a time when electricity disconnections are already at record highs, and we've got incomes stagnating or indeed going backwards in some cases, another spike in electricity costs will just be the straw that breaks the camels back," she said.
Sharon Claydon says more focus on renewable energies would help combat these price hikes.
"We're in this crazy situation where we've got an incredible wealth of renewable resources in Australia, we could be riding a wave of renewable energy investment and forcing those power prices down," she said.
"But instead investment in renewable energy plummeted by more than 60 percent in the last year."
