Energy Bill Relief

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (14:55): My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer update the house on the rollout of the energy rebates announced in the 2023-24 budget?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:56): I am very grateful to the member for Gibson for her question because I know that she will see many of her constituents, like many of the rest of us, see an enormous benefit to them as a result of the energy bill relief plan.

As we know, energy costs are a very significant component of the cost-of-living pressures currently faced by both households and businesses. Yesterday's monthly consumer price index released by the ABS showed electricity costs increased by 12.7 per cent through the year to August across the country. This highlights how important providing energy bill relief is at this time. That's why, of course, the state government's most recent budget, handed down in June, contained more than $127 million as our contribution towards a co-funded energy bill relief plan with the commonwealth.

That package provides $500 in electricity rebates to eligible households. It is anticipated that up to 420,000 households in South Australia are able to benefit from this relief. That is nearly 50 per cent, or one in two of every household in South Australia. This package massively extends the cohort of eligible households entitled for energy bill relief by up to 200,000 people, and that comes as a result of the inclusion of households that receive Family Tax Benefit A and B. This rollout of this additional cohort of family tax benefit recipient households has commenced.

These eligible households are able to register for their relief following a campaign by the commonwealth government agency Services Australia to highlight to those households the availability of the relief for them, and I encourage all eligible South Australians to ensure that they register for and receive this energy bill relief. This relief package will come off in quarterly bills, with the exception of those households that don't register in time to receive it on the first quarter's bill; that will be paid in a subsequent quarter's bill. That means that these households receiving both the state government energy concession and this additional rebate will save up to $763 of their energy bill in the 2023-24 financial year.

I am also pleased to announce today that the state government will be extending the cohort of small businesses in South Australia that will be eligible for the energy bill relief. There has been some consternation, including correspondence that I have received from Business SA, worried that businesses that receive energy bills as part of an embedded network would not be eligible for the energy bill relief plan. Today, I am announcing that the state government will be extending the energy bill relief plan to the thousands of South Australian businesses that are part of embedded networks. This will mean there will now be significantly more than the approximately 86,000 small businesses that were already slated to benefit by up to $650 of energy relief from the existing package, and that is welcome news.

I thank Andrew Kay, Business SA, and the other business representatives who have made representations on behalf of that part of the business community for making the case and causing the government to take this action. This is, without question, the most comprehensive cost-of-living relief package a government in South Australia has ever deployed, and it gives me great pleasure to announce not only an update of where we are up to but a further extension to this package.