Fifteen days from now every electricity meter in New South Wales will start recording power usage and calculating the amount owing eighteen percent higher than it is doing today. The Federal government accepts that most of that increase will be due to it's carbon tax but insists that it's compensation scheme will cover the extra cost to every household.
What many people do not understand is that there are different prices charged for electricity to commercial users than domestic households. " Commercial users " covers everything from giant factories to the corner shop, struggling to make a living in these difficult times. Even tiny little offices pay a much higher rate than the meter attached to our homes, and very quickly we will see this price hike trickle into the cost of living.
Next time you are in a supermarket, count the number of neon tubes on the ceiling lighting the store and consider the power bill for all those refrigerated displays in the frozen goods section. Behind the " Staff Only " doors there are more cool rooms and refrigerated spaces holding reserve stock - and then there are the scanners and other electronics at the checkouts.
That amounts to a lot of electricity - at commercial rates - that will increase eighteen percent on July I, and you can be sure that the supermarket chains - who do not get compensation like householders - will protect their bottom line and move prices upward.
It wouldn't be so bad if this was simply a one-off price increase, but the pundits assure us that this is the start of things to come. The power generators are being sold off from the government to private owners and the poles and wires have been under serviced for decades. Massive new spending is necessary to keep the lights burning.
It seems inevitable that the number of people unable to pay their power bills will increase beyond the ability of the charities to provide help. For many people, it will mean a return to " the dark ages ". There are some older Australians still living who remember the days when the electricity grid did not reach the far corners of this country - and when night saw their home lit with candles and kerosene lamps. There are others to whom turning on a tap for hot water was only a dream - and reality involved firing up a chip water heater in the days when Saturday night was " bath night " for the family.
We are heading into a new era and what we once took for granted - affordable electricity - is going to absorb a much bigger slice of the family budget. We can expect real estate advertising to feature items such as a home being offered for sale having a chimney and a fireplace, and the demolition of old timber fences or a house knocked down bringing a scramble of eager people to acquire the waste timber for winter heating.
The main change is simply one of concept. In a past age both state and Federal governments accepted that it was their duty to provide the essentials of life for their citizens. Those were the days when telephones were a government monopoly, building dams to ensure water was available was handled by the public works departments - and electricity was generated and distributed by subsidized government instrumentality's. At the same time, private enterprise was kept in check by way of government owned competition. In the banking sector, the Commonwealth bank acted as the rule maker on fees and charges, and in the travel industry TAA provided the rationale for air fare prices.
Those days are long gone. Both political persuasions have retreated from the concept of government ownership of life's essentials. We live in an open market place. We are expected to make our own way in life and the role of governments has changed to that of provider of sustenance to those who fall through the cracks.
Let us hope that this safety net can accommodate the return of " the Dark Ages " !
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