Wednesday 20 February 2019

FinCap welcomes consumer focus of Electricity Price Review Options paper

FinCap welcomes the priority given in the Electricity Price Review Options Paper to price affordability, a loud consumer voice and a focus on hardship, and urges that support is given to those issues in the final report.

Tim Barnett, FinCap Chief Executive, said today:

"Each year thousands of people, with a total of around $30 million of power debt, use local free budget services to try and sort their debts and create a liveable and realistic budget. This needs to change, and the Pricing Review is a vital initiative to see this happen. The power sector and its regulators need to have a consumer voice at their heart. Listening to that voice will mean that priority is given to fair and affordable prices, hardship is handled in a more sensitive and responsive way and emerging technologies benefit all consumers. We are willing to partner in this work. We urge a strong voice supporting these options".

ENDS