Elaborating on the theme he developed in the ACTU Price Gouging Enquiry 12 months ago, Former chair of the ACCC, Allan Fels, told ABC News that Australians are paying too much for electricity and gas.
Energy prices could and should be lower.
There's been a massive increase in profitability of the energy companies in the last couple of years or more, and prices have gone up by far, far more than the CPI, and there have been government energy rebates.
So, all of that points to a case for having lower energy prices, especially electricity.
The federal government has spent $3.5 billion of public money on energy price relief rebates for households and small businesses this financial year.
Fels says the public is entitled to be concerned when there is a big energy subsidy to bring down prices for consumers, but an energy company still makes a healthy profit.
It doesn't seem to be justified that the public supports a firm's prices and the full benefit doesn't go through to the consumer.
That can legitimately be called price gouging. Consumers are clearly being exploited, driven by an underlying lack of competition.
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business reporter Rhiana Whitson
Richard Foxworthy
