Antinuclear

Fact checking Tony Abbott on his claims about power costs

• The claim: Tony Abbott says electricity and gas prices will drop by 9 per cent and 7 per cent once the carbon tax is abolished.
• The verdict: It is impossible to predict with precision. Many factors determine electricity and gas prices other than the carbon tax.

The precise figures Mr Abbott used in his claim are pure speculation.

Will abolishing the carbon tax reduce power bills? ABC News FACT CHECK, 31 Oct 13  After a three-year campaign to scrap the carbon tax, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has wasted no time in preparing legislation for its final destruction. He’s demanding that the Senate pass it by Christmas. To do that, Mr Abbott needs Labor’s support and that remains unclear.

In an effort to pressure the Opposition into capitulating, the Government says Labor is to blame for hefty household power bills. According to the Prime Minister, abolishing the carbon tax will provide instant financial relief to consumers. When this bill is passed, this Government estimates that power prices will go down by 9 per cent, gas prices will go down by 7 per cent, and that means that the average power bill will be $200 a year lower and the average gas bill will be $70 a year lower,” Mr Abbott said on October 15.

ABC Fact Check asked Mr Abbott where the figures came from. His office directed the query to Environment Minister Greg Hunt, whose office is yet to respond.

How Mr Abbott can be so sure electricity prices will fall by 9 per cent and gas prices by 7 per cent from where they are today in the absence of a carbon price is questionable.

The carbon price is only one of many factors that contribute to household utility prices…….

The verdict

The claim that electricity and gas prices will drop by 9 and 7 per cent respectively from where they are today if the carbon tax is abolished is impossible to predict with precision. Many other factors determine electricity and gas prices. Power prices may well continue to increase, though by about 7 to 9 per cent less than they otherwise would.

The precise figures Mr Abbott used in his claim are pure speculation. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/tony-abbott-carbon-tax-gas-electricity-bills/5050348

October 31, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics