Energy Made Easy Website

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on the Australian Energy Regulator's Energy Made Easy website?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:02): Thank you, member for Flinders—another important question, another Liberal member of parliament focused on what's important to his electorate and the rest of the state: trying to get electricity prices down. He asks about the AER's Energy Made Easy website and, yes, I can update the house with some information about that. The AER maintains the Energy Made Easy website. It is very much about trying to improve competition in our state.

All members would be aware of the ACCC's report looking into competition at the retailer and the generator level—a very important and useful report. The Energy Made Easy site is about trying to give retail consumers some extra access to information and transparency and to provide a platform for retailers to compete on that is transparent and widely available. The COAG Energy Council has recently made improving this platform a high priority. Members here will or should know that the Liberal government took to the last election, as part of our energy policy, a policy to make electricity bills far more transparent.

I would say that electricity bills, much like mobile phone bills, are very hard to interrogate. If you can figure out exactly what you're getting for your money, then it's still incredibly difficult to compare one bill against another to see which is offering you better prices, which is offering you better service and which is offering you a package that's better for your needs and for your consumption. We are determined to improve this. We are determined to remove the capacity for retailers to charge exit fees on standing electricity bills so that consumers can swap easily. The Energy Made Easy site is going to be improved. In fact, there is information on it which I would be pleased to share with the house. Since 1 July 2018—

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Point of order from the member for West Torrens.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: The minister is now quoting from a website that is publicly available.

The SPEAKER: If the minister could remind the house of the website, I will get it on my device and I will watch that he is not quoting word for word. What is the website, please?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Well, energymadeeasy.gov.au

The SPEAKER: Please also add to information on that website, or it will be out of order. Thank you.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Unfortunately for the member for West Torrens, I am not quoting from any website; I am sharing some useful information that is available on it.

The SPEAKER: Please continue.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Since 1 July 2018, changes have started to emerge. For example, one small retailer has decreased their best electricity market offer by over 10 per cent or $248 per year for the typical household using 5,000 kilowatt hours per year. I am also advised that as of 31 July 2018 a household using 5,000 kilowatt hours a year pays on average $2,412 on one of the most common standing offers. If that household were to switch to the lowest market offer, which currently is around $2,017 per year, that household would save just under $400 per year.

It is not enough to tell households to shop around as the previous government used to do; we are actually trying to make it easy for households to shop around. They need the tools, they need the capacity and they need the ability to easily access and compare this important information so that they can look at what is best for them and they can make changes. We need more transparency, and we need more competition in our electricity market in South Australia, all the way from the generator market bringing price timings down from 30 minutes to five minutes, all the way through retailing and all the way through to the household. South Australian households and employers deserve more affordable, more reliable electricity and we will deliver it for them.