{"id":36112,"date":"2020-01-20T13:40:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T03:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=36112"},"modified":"2024-01-25T09:59:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T00:29:57","slug":"aemc-report-electricity-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"AEMC Report &#8212; Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_36594\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36594\" class=\"wp-image-36594 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg\" alt=\"Wind energy and solar power - AEMC\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36594\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Wind And Solar Power &#8212; But Not In WA!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t live in Western Australia I have good news.\u00a0 A report released on December the 9th by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aemc.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Australian Energy Market Commission<\/a> (AEMC) says electricity prices will fall in all states except WA.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--> Over the next two and a half years the national decrease in household electricity bills is estimated to be 7.1%.\u00a0 This won&#8217;t be evenly spread and will range from a large decline in Queensland to to a kick in the pants in Western Australia.\u00a0 From best to the worst, the expected reduction in residential electricity bills over the next 2.5 years are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Queensland 19.5% lower<\/li>\n<li>NSW 8.3% lower<\/li>\n<li>ACT 6.9% lower<\/li>\n<li>Tasmania 4.9% lower<\/li>\n<li>Victoria 4.6% lower<\/li>\n<li>South Australia 1.5% lower<\/li>\n<li>Western Australia 6.4% higher<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The main reason electricity will be cheaper for everyone east of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eucla,_Western_Australia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eucla<\/a> is increasing renewable energy capacity.\u00a0 Solar farms, wind farms, and rooftop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar101.html\">solar power<\/a> all help drive down wholesale electricity prices and lower wholesale prices will be responsible for almost two-thirds of the predicted decline in electricity bills.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aemc.gov.au\/sites\/default\/files\/2019-12\/2019%20Residential%20Electricity%20Price%20Trends%20final%20report%20FINAL.pdf\">the report<\/a> is not all good news:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lower wholesale prices will lower solar feed-in tariffs.<\/li>\n<li>We may have to wait until next financial year for bills to fall.<\/li>\n<li>The predictions don&#8217;t take inflation into account, so for many people electricity prices will appear to, more or less, hold steady.<\/li>\n<li>Western Australians get screwed over on electricity costs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wa-doubles-supply-charges\/\">again<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Big Picture &#8212; As Big As Australia<\/h2>\n<p>This graph from the report shows the expected fall in residential electricity bills for all of Australia, excluding the Northern Territory &#8211; which was left out because wholesale electricity prices there are secret:<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-1' id='enref-36112-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-36437 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/trendssupplychain.gif\" alt=\"Electricity bill components\" width=\"980\" height=\"641\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, they don&#8217;t expect any bill decrease this financial year, and most of the decline will happen in\u00a0 2020\/21.<\/p>\n<p>The graph is broken into four components:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Residual:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is mostly retailing costs, which covers billing and customer inquiries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Environmental Policies:<\/strong>\u00a0 Federal and state policies designed to protect our health and the environment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Regulated Networks:<\/strong>\u00a0 Long distance transmission and the local distribution of electricity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wholesale:<\/strong>\u00a0 What generators get paid for providing electricity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see by eyeballing the graph above, most of the fall in electricity bills will come from lower wholesale electricity prices.\u00a0 If you want to see a more detailed breakdown you have two choices:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to page 5 of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aemc.gov.au\/sites\/default\/files\/2019-12\/2019%20Residential%20Electricity%20Price%20Trends%20final%20report%20FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the report<\/a> and stare in horror at a cluttered table, or&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Look below at my sleek and simplified version of their table, which is a technicolour wonder to behold.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I figured the easiest way to indicate what will happen over the next two to three years is to show how much each component of an electricity bills is expected to change and what percentage point change in electricity bills this will cause:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-36608 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/awesometable.png\" alt=\"Australian electricity bill prediction - components\" width=\"931\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/awesometable.png 931w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/awesometable-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/awesometable-768x416.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 931px) 100vw, 931px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this table environmental policies and regulated networks are broken into their components and I&#8217;ll provice some details on them below.\u00a0 Looking at the left column we can see the biggest money savers are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lower Wholesale prices:\u00a0 4.6% decrease in electricity bills<\/li>\n<li>Lower LRET or Large-scale Renewable Energy Target costs: 1.6% decrease in electricity bills<\/li>\n<li>Lower Distribution costs: 0.6% decrease in electricity bills<\/li>\n<li>Lower Metering costs: 0.4% decrease in electricity bills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The only appreciable increase is from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Higher Transmission costs: 0.3% increase in electricity bills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Lower Wholesale Prices<\/h2>\n<p>Wholesale electricity prices have been exceptionally high in Australia over the past four years, as this table from the Australian Energy Market Operator shows:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_36448\" style=\"width: 1069px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36448\" class=\"wp-image-36448 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/averageprices.png\" alt=\"Average wholesale electricity prices in Australia\" width=\"1059\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/averageprices.png 1059w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/averageprices-300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/averageprices-1024x447.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/averageprices-768x335.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1059px) 100vw, 1059px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36448\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This table shows the wholesale electricity market spot price in dollars per megawatt-hour. To get cents per kilowatt-hour just divide by 10.\u00a0 Note the figures for 2020 are only from the first two weeks of the year. (Image Source: AEMO)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_36635\" style=\"width: 1802px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36635\" class=\"size-full wp-image-36635\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices.jpg\" alt=\"graph of wholesale electricity prices over time by state\" width=\"1792\" height=\"1116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices.jpg 1792w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices-1024x638.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices-768x478.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/wholesale-prices-1536x957.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1792px) 100vw, 1792px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36635\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I turned it into a graph so it is easier to digest. You&#8217;re welcome.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As you can see, Australians back in 2015 were living in a dreamworld and only paying an average wholesale electricity price of around 4 cents per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0 That&#8217;s quite a difference from 2019 where the average was roughly 9.4 cents.<\/p>\n<p>There were a number of reasons why wholesale electricity prices soared:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Abbott Government opposition to renewable energy slowed its expansion.<\/li>\n<li>The completion of natural gas export facilities near Gladstone caused natural gas prices on the east coast to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/turnbull-gas-prices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than double<\/a> as they approached international prices.<\/li>\n<li>But mainly, Australia&#8217;s oversupply of generating capacity ended, as 22% of the nation&#8217;s coal generating capacity has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/coal-killed-by-renewables\/\">shut down since 2012<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Things are looking a little better now:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite our current Prime Minister&#8217;s penchant for waltzing around Parliament with a lump of coal, the Coalition is not as rabidly anti-renewable as under Abbott, so that&#8217;s something.<\/li>\n<li>Natural gas prices overseas are <a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/Business\/Energy\/LNG-prices-in-Asia-plunge-43-as-new-US-supply-hits-market\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">relatively low<\/a> at the moment.<\/li>\n<li>Most importantly, we&#8217;ve had a surge in large scale renewable energy construction.\u00a0 The AEMR report gives the total capacity of committed projects as 2,338 megawatts of solar power and 2,566 megawatts of wind energy.<\/li>\n<li>Record amounts of rooftop solar are being installed.<\/li>\n<li>In addition to new renewable capacity, there will also be 210 megawatts of open cycle gas turbines built.\u00a0 These are gas generators that are usually only used when wholesale electricity prices are high, such as during heat waves, because of their high fuel use.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-2' id='enref-36112-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>2<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>AEMC&#8217;s Wholesale Figures Don&#8217;t Match The AEMO&#8217;s<\/h2>\n<p>The AEMC report gives figures from the 2018\/19 financial year that aren&#8217;t predictions and based on actual prices.\u00a0 However, they differ from the from the average wholesale prices the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) provides.\u00a0 Since the AEMO is responsible for running the electricity market, I&#8217;m pretty sure their figures are correct.<\/p>\n<p>The table below compares AEMC and AEMO average wholesale electricity prices<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-3' id='enref-36112-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>3<\/a><\/sup> for the eastern states in cents per kilowatt-hour:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-36494 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/compare.png\" alt=\"Wholesale electricity figures - AEMC vs. AEMO\" width=\"475\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/compare.png 475w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/compare-300x221.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_36636\" style=\"width: 1696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36636\" class=\"wp-image-36636 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies.jpg\" alt=\"AEMC vs AEMO price discrepancies chart\" width=\"1686\" height=\"1120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies.jpg 1686w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/price-discrapancies-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1686px) 100vw, 1686px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You are welcome (again).<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The AEMC report says they model wholesale prices, so I can understand some discrepancy.\u00a0 But their figure for South Australia is 54% higher than the AEMO&#8217;s and that&#8217;s really got me scratching my head over how they arrived at that amount.\u00a0 If the AEMC could provide a brief explanation in future reports that would be helpful.\u00a0 It would also &#8212; hopefully &#8212; give me more confidence in their results.<\/p>\n<h2>Renewables Lower Wholesale Prices<\/h2>\n<p>New renewable generating capacity lowers the wholesale price of electricity in two main ways ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Firstly, new renewable capacity is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov.au\/news-media\/news\/renewables-confirmed-cheapest-source-electricity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cheaper than new fossil fuel capacity<\/a>.\u00a0 This is true even though wind and solar power need to be firmed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tesla-big-battery-first-year\/\">dispatchable<\/a> sources of energy that can be turned on and off as needed.<\/li>\n<li>Secondly, solar and wind have zero fuel cost<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-4' id='enref-36112-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>4<\/a><\/sup> and so, unlike fossil fuel generators, they save nothing by withholding supply.\u00a0 This makes them more likely to provide all the energy they can generate to the market.\u00a0 Not only are renewable generators less likely to play the market to raise prices, they make it difficult for other generators to do the same, helping to lower the cost of electricity from all sources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This means renewable energy benefits Australians in three main ways:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Contributes to a safer environment with a less unstable climate.<\/li>\n<li>Better health thanks to lower air pollution.<\/li>\n<li>Lower electricity prices.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Hopefully the rate at which large scale solar and wind farms are built won&#8217;t dramatically decline as the government allows all support for renewable energy to end.<\/p>\n<h2>Our Government Is Allowing The LRET To Disappear<\/h2>\n<p>Australia has a Large-scale Renewable Energy Target, called LRET for short.\u00a0 The Abbott Government cut it by 20% but it is still around and is responsible for the current mini-boom in large scale renewable construction.\u00a0 The LRET is being phased out and will end entirely in 2030.\u00a0 But this won&#8217;t be a gradual decline and support is expected to drop rapidly.\u00a0\u00a0 The table below shows future market prices for Large-scale Generation Certificates or LGCs that are part of the LRET:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_36524\" style=\"width: 782px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36524\" class=\"wp-image-36524 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/lgcfutures.png\" alt=\"Large scale generation certificate prices\" width=\"772\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/lgcfutures.png 772w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/lgcfutures-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/lgcfutures-768x340.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-36524\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Source: Mecari<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In calendar year 2023 they are predicted to fall to $11.85 per megawatt-hour.\u00a0 That&#8217;s around 1.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment around 2.6% of household electricity bills goes towards the LRET.\u00a0 By the 2021\/22 financial year it is expected to be 1%.\u00a0 This fall in the cost of the LRET will result in the second largest drop in electricity bills after lower wholesale prices.<\/p>\n<p>As there is no Federal Government support for large scale renewable energy other than the LRET, there may be a large decline in its construction at the end of this year.\u00a0 I&#8217;m hoping the costs of renewable energy will have fallen enough by then that there won&#8217;t be a severe drop.\u00a0 But be warned, I&#8217;ve been told reality doesn&#8217;t actually pay a great deal of attention to my personal hopes.\u00a0 The good news is a considerable number of projects look like they will be going ahead over the next few years.<\/p>\n<p>While the LRET raises electricity bills, we&#8217;re better off with it.\u00a0 This is because by lowering pollution and greenhouse gas emission from fossil fuel generation, it lowers health costs and the costs of environmental damage.<\/p>\n<h2>A Lot Of Rooftop Solar Will Be Installed<\/h2>\n<p>Rooftop solar receives a subsidy that is often called the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/panels\/rebate\/\">solar rebate<\/a>&#8220;.\u00a0 It&#8217;s real name is the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme or SRES for short.\u00a0 Last year when rooftop solar capacity was installed at record levels, it added around 2.3% to electricity bills.\u00a0 This is expected to fall by 9% in 2021\/22.<\/p>\n<p>This is an interesting prediction because the SRES is being phased out and the amount received per kilowatt of rooftop solar installed will fall by 25% by 2022 compared to 2019.\u00a0 This means the AEMC is expecting a considerable expansion in the amount of rooftop solar installed over the next few years on top of the record set last year.<\/p>\n<p>Rooftop solar panels provide the same benefits as large scale renewables and helps lower wholesale electricity prices, so it not only lowers electricity bills for homes that have it but for everyone else as well.\u00a0 The cost of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Target also raises electricity bills by 2%.\u00a0 While this makes some people who can&#8217;t install rooftop solar grumpy, considering the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemo-2020-isp-evil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">health and environmental costs<\/a> of sticking with coal and natural gas, it&#8217;s a bargain.<\/p>\n<h2>Long Distance Transmission Costs Heading Up<\/h2>\n<p>Increased costs of long distance transmission are estimated to increase electricity bills by 0.3%.\u00a0 This is the cost of building and maintaining the high voltage transmission lines that carry current from large scale generators to towns and suburbs.<\/p>\n<p>How much of this increase is due to new transmission lines isn&#8217;t made clear.\u00a0 While new transmission will increase this component of electricity bills, it can lower wholesale electricity prices in two ways:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>By allowing increased arbitrage &#8211; moving electricity from where it&#8217;s cheap to where it&#8217;s more expensive &#8212; and&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>By increasing competition between generators.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So paying for new long distance transmission can definitely be worthwhile.\u00a0 On the other hand, there is the possibility if renewable energy and battery costs fall fast enough, expensive new long distance transmission capacity will turn out to be a waste of money.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-5' id='enref-36112-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h2>Local Distribution Costs Coming Down<\/h2>\n<p>Electricity is taken from long distance transmission lines and provided to local homes and businesses by Distributed Network Service Providers.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-6' id='enref-36112-6' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>6<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 The cost of local distribution is expected to fall by just 1%.\u00a0 But, because this is such a large component of electricity bills, it&#8217;s enough to lower electricity bills by 0.6%.\u00a0 This puts it in third place for cost decreases after lower wholesale prices and reduced LRET.<\/p>\n<h2>Metering Costs To Fall<\/h2>\n<p>The cost of reading electricity meters is expected to fall by almost 14%.\u00a0 That&#8217;s a hefty decrease, but because metering is a small component of electricity bills, it will only lower them by 0.4%.<\/p>\n<p>Metering costs should definitely be falling, as every new meter is now required to be a smart meter<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-7' id='enref-36112-7' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>7<\/a><\/sup>, which saves costs by regularly transmitting information rather than paying someone to come around and read it.\u00a0 It also eliminates the need for many service calls.\u00a0 The most common reason for replacing an electricity meter is because rooftop solar panels have been installed, so solar energy is helping drive cost reductions here.<\/p>\n<h2>Queenslanders Are Biggest Winners<\/h2>\n<p>Electricity bills are expected to fall by 19.5% in Queensland, which puts the Sunshine State way out in front.\u00a0 A major reason is new renewable capacity in the state, which is expected to total 595 megawatts of solar farms and 496 megawatts of wind power over the next two and a half years.\u00a0 In addition, Queensland has the most rooftop solar in the country and the AEMC expects its installation rate to increase.\u00a0 However, unlike other states and the ACT, both lower local distribution costs and lower retailing costs will provide more relief on electricity bills than lower wholesale prices.<\/p>\n<p>The AEMC makes it clear their estimate is is only for the Energex network area in South East Queensland.\u00a0 However, regional Queensland &#8212; the Ergon network &#8212; should see similar electricity bill declines.<\/p>\n<h2>Western Australians Screwed Over Again<\/h2>\n<p>The unfortunate losers in the game of electricity bills are Western Australians.\u00a0 Rather than seeing a decrease like other states, their electricity bills are expected to increase by 6.4%.\u00a0 This will mostly be due to expected increases in the cost of gas in the Western Australian market.\u00a0 The AEMC does not think <a href=\"https:\/\/reneweconomy.com.au\/western-australia-set-to-decide-on-180mw-solar-farm-for-states-south-west-75910\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expanding<\/a> renewable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.watoday.com.au\/national\/western-australia\/massive-250-million-solar-farm-proposal-on-the-cards-for-wa-s-south-west-20191109-p5390b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">capacity<\/a> in WA will be enough to offset this increase.<\/p>\n<p>This is especially bad news as the state has already suffered significant electricity bill hikes, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wa-doubles-supply-charges\/\">increased burdens on lower income households<\/a>.\u00a0 Normal Western Australians are paying high prices for electricity despite their state government subsidising it by around 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.<\/p>\n<h2>Solar Feed-In Tariffs Likely To Fall<\/h2>\n<p>While the AEMC report doesn&#8217;t go into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/feed-in-tariffs\/\">solar feed-in tariffs<\/a>, any decrease in wholesale electricity prices is going to put downward pressure on solar feed-in tariffs.\u00a0 Overall, wholesale electricity prices are expected to fall by 1.45 cents.\u00a0 In the states and the ACT the predicted change per kilowatt-hour is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ACT:\u00a0 1.7 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>NSW:\u00a0 1.7 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>Queensland:\u00a0 1.2 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>South Australia:\u00a0 1.7 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>Tasmania:\u00a0 0.9 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>Victoria:\u00a0 2.0 cent decrease<\/li>\n<li>Western Australia:\u00a0 1.1 cent increase<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But this is the fall in average wholesale prices.\u00a0 As more rooftop solar panels are installed and solar farms are built they are likely to fall by more during the day than at night.\u00a0 The effect won&#8217;t be dramatic over the next few years because it will result in more consumption shifting to the daytime to take advantage of lower prices.\u00a0 But people in the eastern states can probably expect a fall in solar feed-in tariffs of around 2 cents or possibly more, over the next two to three years.<\/p>\n<p>Western Australians should receive an increase in feed-in tariffs, but according to AEMC figures<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#en-36112-8' id='enref-36112-8' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(36112)'>8<\/a><\/sup> people in WA are already getting ripped off and receiving a feed-in tariff considerably less than the wholesale electricity price, so it&#8217;s possible Western Australians will just become more ripped off.<\/p>\n<h2>Some Caveats, Provisos And Cautions<\/h2>\n<p>The AEMC report makes it very clear they are just providing estimates using a model and they&#8217;re not providing a guarantee that anyone&#8217;s electricity bill will decrease or increase by any particular amount.\u00a0 They are really serious about this, so I can only guess someone&#8217;s granny rang them up at some point and gave them a real earful about an erroneous prediction of theirs.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36637\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/angry-grandma.jpg\" alt=\"angry old lady on phone\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/angry-grandma.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/angry-grandma-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/angry-grandma-768x513.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Their model also only calculates results for a typical household.\u00a0 While Australia&#8217;s average household size is 2.6 people, the most common household size is 2 and that is what the AEMC uses for their modeling.\u00a0 While it shouldn&#8217;t make a large difference, this could alter results if your electricity consumption is particularly high or low.<\/p>\n<p>The AEMC is also up front about getting predictions wrong in the past.\u00a0 But looking at their past mea culpas they really don&#8217;t have anything to be ashamed of.\u00a0 Prediction is very difficult, especially when it comes to the future.\u00a0 I&#8217;d say the AEMC report is probably the best thing we have to go on.<\/p>\n<h2>Our Tool Can Help You Pick The Best Electricity Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Whatever happens to electricity prices, if you are in South East Queensland, NSW, Victoria, or South Australia I&#8217;m afraid you have retailer choice.\u00a0 This means you will have to fight to get the best retail electricity plan.\u00a0 Fortunately, SolarQuotes has a very useful tool that can help you.\u00a0 He writes blog posts.<\/p>\n<p>We also have another very useful tool that can help you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy\/\">select the best electricity plan<\/a>.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a work in progress and we&#8217;re still figuring out how to prevent electricity retailers from gaming the system, but it can help you find a plan that is likely to be best for you.<\/p>\n<p>And remember, just like the devil, it is possible to bargain with electricity retailers and ask for a better deal.\u00a0 The chance of success is probably less than when dealing with the devil, but that doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s not worth trying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you don&#8217;t live in Western Australia I have good news.\u00a0 A report released on December the 9th by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) says electricity prices will fall in all states except WA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electricity-prices","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AEMC: Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you don&#039;t live in Western Australia, there&#039;s good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AEMC Report -- Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you don&#039;t live in Western Australia, there&#039;s good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"AEMC Report &#8212; Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3129,\"commentCount\":24,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/cheap-renewable.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Electricity Prices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/\",\"name\":\"AEMC: Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/cheap-renewable.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you don't live in Western Australia, there's good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/cheap-renewable.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/cheap-renewable.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Solar And Wind -- But Not In WA!\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Electricity Prices\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/electricity-prices\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"AEMC Report &#8212; Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes Blog\",\"description\":\"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"width\":592,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SolarQuotes\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SolarQuotes\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/solar_quotes\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/solarquotes\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/au.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/solarquotes\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/SolarQuotesAustralia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\",\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Ronald Brakels\"},\"description\":\"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/BrakelsRonald\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ronald\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AEMC: Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy","description":"If you don't live in Western Australia, there's good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AEMC Report -- Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy","og_description":"If you don't live in Western Australia, there's good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/","og_site_name":"SolarQuotes Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","article_published_time":"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ronald Brakels","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BrakelsRonald","twitter_site":"@solar_quotes","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/"},"author":{"name":"Ronald Brakels","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7"},"headline":"AEMC Report &#8212; Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy","datePublished":"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/"},"wordCount":3129,"commentCount":24,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","articleSection":["Electricity Prices"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/","name":"AEMC: Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-20T03:10:50+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-25T00:29:57+00:00","description":"If you don't live in Western Australia, there's good news.\u00a0 A report released last month by the AEMC says electricity prices will fall in all other states.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Solar And Wind -- But Not In WA!"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemc-report-electricity-prices\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Electricity Prices","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AEMC Report &#8212; Electricity Prices To Fall Thanks To Renewable Energy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","name":"SolarQuotes Blog","description":"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization","name":"SolarQuotes","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","width":592,"height":600,"caption":"SolarQuotes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/","https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7","name":"Ronald Brakels","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","caption":"Ronald Brakels"},"description":"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BrakelsRonald"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/ronald\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cheap-renewable.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-9os","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45879,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australia-electricity-prices-mb1807\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":0},"title":"AEMC: Electricity Prices To Continue To Fall","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"December 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In what's been a rather dark year, it's always nice to have a bit of good news. Electricity costs look set to continue to fall for many Australian households over the next couple of years, but their mileage will vary. The Australian Electricity Market Commission's Residential Electricity Price Trends 2020\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Electricity prices in Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/australia-electricity-bills-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/australia-electricity-bills-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/australia-electricity-bills-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/australia-electricity-bills-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/australia-electricity-bills-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35524,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/electricity-price-trends-mb1322\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":1},"title":"AEMC Releases Residential Electricity Price Trends Report\u00a0","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"December 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) thinks cheaper electricity bills are on the cards for many Australians over the next few years, largely thanks to the impact of renewable energy. But your mileage may vary. Released this morning, the AEMC\u2019s annual report on electricity price trends predicts residential electricity costs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AEMC electricity price trends","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/electricity-price-trends-report.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/electricity-price-trends-report.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/electricity-price-trends-report.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/electricity-price-trends-report.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/electricity-price-trends-report.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47753,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/renewables-wholesale-electricity-mb1886\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":2},"title":"Renewables Help Achieve Lowest Wholesale Electricity Prices In Years","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Wholesale electricity prices in the National Electricity Market last year were at their lowest since 2015 says the Australian Energy Regulator. The AER's latest Wholesale Markets Quarterly Report looks at the entire year, but with a special focus on the final quarter. Commenting on the report, AER Chair Clare Savage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Renewables and wholesale electricity prices","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/wholesale-electricity-prices.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/wholesale-electricity-prices.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/wholesale-electricity-prices.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/wholesale-electricity-prices.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/wholesale-electricity-prices.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17699,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australia-electricity-price-trends-mb0370\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":3},"title":"AEMC Releases 2017 Residential Electricity Price Trends Report","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"December 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Australian Energy Market Commission's outlook\u00a0 for residential electricity prices over the next couple of years is a mixed bag of news. The Commission believes electricity prices will fall on average nationally over the next two years from the middle of next year as more wind and solar power based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Electricity pricing in Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/electricity-cost-australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/electricity-cost-australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/electricity-cost-australia.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/electricity-cost-australia.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18958,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/gas-electricity-prices-mb0449\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":4},"title":"QLD, NSW And Victoria Facing Major Electricity Price Rises : Report","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Lack of significant Government intervention in the gas market could lead to households in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria facing hefty electricity bill increases says the McKell Institute. While Australia may become the world\u2019s largest producer of LNG this year, the report states up to 70 per cent of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gas and electricity bills","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/gas-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/gas-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/gas-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95694,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wholesale-electricity-prices-mb3304\/","url_meta":{"origin":36112,"position":5},"title":"NEM Wholesale Electricity Prices Tumble, But &#8230;\u00a0","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"November 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The growth in renewables including rooftop solar \u2014 and energy storage \u2014 continue to put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices; even as the shift to electrification accelerates. Whether\/when we'll see that flow on to household electricity bills and by how much is another matter. How Did Wholesale Electricity Prices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powerlines","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wholesale-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wholesale-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wholesale-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wholesale-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wholesale-electricity-prices.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36112"}],"version-history":[{"count":102,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81192,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36112\/revisions\/81192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}