Second half of Western Australia $700 power bill subsidy being paid

Another Labor government is dishing out a further round of power bill rebates.

West Australians receive the second half of their $700-per-household payment beginning this weekend.

Houses hooked up by the major players Synergy (in the general southwest corner) or Horizon Power (outside the southwest) receive the money automatically; anyone not with these two has to apply to the government.

Big-upping the payments, Premier Roger Cook says the state Labor government has paid $2100 to “every single WA household” during the past four years.

“We’re making sure every WA household receives another $350 off their power bill this Christmas,” the Premier said.

All state and territory governments have power bill relief funds available for the public to apply for, but WA’s $700 scheme this year follows automatic rebates from other Labor governments around the country.

The recently ousted Queensland Labor government wiped $1000 of every power bill this year. The NSW government subsidised $300 per home, and the federal government included $300 for every home and small business this year.

All these hugely expensive rebate schemes come as a record number of Australians struggle to pay electricity bills.

In a report released this month, the Australian Energy Regulator says 1.9 per cent of customers (130,000 households) are on hardship payment plans as of June 30, up from a record 1.4 per cent a year ago.

WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said the rebate would “continue to support Western Australian households and businesses through these cost-of-living pressures”.

“We can only deliver this kind of support through strong financial management and keeping net debt sustainable.”

The $350 payment is being applied to bills from December 7.

“This is real support that makes a difference to WA households juggling cost-of-living pressures,” Ms Saffioti said.

The majority of WA’s power comes from coal and gas, with small amounts being made with diesel, wind, solar and landfill gas.

Federally, Peter Dutton and his opposition colleagues have been hammering the government on the expensive state of electricity costs. Mr Dutton is expected to release the costings of his nuclear energy plan this week.