As families receive that dreaded letter from their power company telling them electricity costs will once again sky rocket, Senator Scott Ryan has called on the Federal Government to take action.

Electricity prices will go through the roof next Sunday (July 1), with much of the price rise attributable to the Gillard Government’s carbon tax. The carbon tax will also hit household budgets via higher prices for a range of everyday goods and services.

Local householders are entitled to feel the pinch; electricity prices in Victoria have climbed by close to 40 per cent over the past three years. Now is not the time for the Gillard Government to be forcing power prices even higher.

“With winter upon us, families need to be able to heat their homes, dry their clothes and take a warm shower without worrying how much it will cost,” Senator Scott Ryan, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition, said.

“It is unreasonable that every time someone switches on the heater they will be thinking, ‘will I be able to afford to pay my power bill?’”

Small businesses will also be hit hard by power price rises on the back of the carbon tax. Offices running computers and heating all day, dry cleaners with their energy-hungry equipment and butchers with their big fridges, will be battling higher power costs. These are costs they will be forced to pass on to customers.

“The Coalition will help local families and small businesses by scrapping the carbon tax,” Senator Ryan said. “Scrapping the carbon tax will be the first order of business of the next Coalition Government.”

According to analysis in The Herald Sun newspaper (18/06/12), electricity prices will increase significantly in  Melbourne’s western and outer northern suburbs – where power is supplied by Powercor and SP Ausnet.

“The Gillard Government is ignoring concerns about cost of living pressures, but the Coalition knows that local families are hurting,” Senator Ryan said. “Only a Coalition Government will restore hope, reward and opportunity to local families and small businesses.”