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Every household in the country will get a $300 discount on their energy bills as part of a $3.5 billion package included in the federal budget.
Small businesses will also benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Fund, with around a million eligible organizations receiving $325 off their electricity bills.
“From July 1, Australians will get a $300 energy rebate – and one million small businesses will get a little more,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
“The ABS has shown how reducing energy bills directly reduces inflation too.
“Keeping the lights on for families and businesses – and keeping pressure on inflation.”
Who is eligible for the discount?
Unlike last year’s Budget, which included relief on energy bills for around 5 million vulnerable households, this year there are no eligibility criteria – all over 10 million households in Australia will receive the rebate.
About 1 million small businesses — the same as last year — will also be eligible for a $325 rebate.
The discount will be automatically applied to your energy bills after 1 July.
Will this increase inflation?
According to the government, no – quite the opposite, in fact.
The policy is the main thrust of the budget to combat both cost-of-living pressures and inflation in one fell swoop.
According to budget documents, because the relief is a rebate and not a direct cash payment, the move will reduce inflation by 0.5 percent this year alone.
This is the lion’s share of the fall from 0.6% to below 3% by the end of the year forecast by the Treasury, whose forecasts are much more optimistic than those of the Reserve Bank.
Last week the RBA said it expected inflation to stay below three per cent until the end of next year, but failed to factor any fiscal measures into its modelling.
The $300 rebate is a continuation of last year’s energy rebate, which Chalmers said reduced electricity price increases by about 13 percent.
“From the June 2023 quarter to the March 2024 quarter, easing household energy bills directly dampened growth
place in CPI electricity prices by 12.9 percentage points,” the budget documents said.
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