Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1) 53 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time SA Power Networks SA Power Networks The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD Legislative Council SA Power Networks The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Mineral Resources a question relating to escalating power costs in South Australia. Leave granted. The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD Legislative Council The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: The Advertiser today reported that householders are set to pay more than $70 million in blackout compensation and tree pruning at the hands of SA Power Networks (whose acronym I think is unfortunately SAPN). They also attributed increases in SAPN costs to the administration of the state government's solar feed-in tariff scheme. SA Power Networks claim they paid $9 million in compensation last financial year, $6 million of which was attributed to wild weather. In 2012 SAPN reported that their 2012 compensation figure was down 70 per cent from the previous year, which suggests that a blanket increase would not necessarily represent actual claims for compensation. Despite this, bills have increased at least $30 per household in the last year for this alone, as I understand. My question to the minister is simply: what is the government doing to ensure that South Australian householders are not unfairly charged additional fees in their power bills in addition to the already high rates? The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:22): I thank the honourable member for his important question. I will refer it to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy in another place and bring back a response.