Anthony Albanese and the Labor government are once again handing out crumbs to struggling Australians, this time in the form of a $150 rebate on power bills—on top of the $300 they gave last year. While any help is welcome, let’s be honest: these small bailouts do nothing to fix the root cause of skyrocketing electricity prices. In reality, they’re not for you or me at all. They’re a safety net for the power companies—AGL, Origin Energy, and the rest—who have no incentive to lower prices because they know the government will always step in to clean up the mess.
The pattern is clear. Every time power prices climb too high and public outrage boils over, the government swoops in with a temporary rebate to quieten the complaints. Meanwhile, energy companies continue to rake in massive profits, all while the government pushes ahead with policies that make electricity even more expensive in the long run. Labor came into power promising cheaper energy. Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese repeatedly claimed that renewables would bring power prices down. Yet, since taking office, electricity prices have surged, defying every promise they made.
In 2021, the average household electricity bill in New South Wales was around $1,800 per year. In 2023, after Labor’s aggressive renewable energy push, that jumped to $2,500 per year—a staggering 38% increase in just two years. Small businesses, already struggling with inflation and interest rate hikes, saw even worse increases, with many reporting energy bills doubling in the past five years. This isn’t just happening in NSW; it’s a nationwide trend. Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia have all seen similar spikes, despite their governments championing renewables as the way forward.
Labor’s entire energy policy is built on the idea that wind and solar will make power cheaper. That’s the pitch we’ve been sold for years. The reality? As coal plants shut down and the grid becomes more dependent on intermittent renewables, prices have only gone in one direction—up. Take the closure of the Liddell Power Station in April 2023. This coal-fired power plant was providing around 10% of NSW’s electricity, but instead of replacing it with reliable baseload power, the government placed its faith in solar and wind. The result? Just weeks after Liddell was shut down, power prices spiked, forcing the government to roll out energy bill subsidies to prevent full-scale public backlash.
This isn’t an isolated incident. In South Australia, which boasts one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, electricity prices have regularly been among the highest in the country. When the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine, the state has to rely on expensive gas peaker plants or import electricity from Victoria. While households and small businesses are struggling under Labor’s energy policies, the power companies are making a killing. Origin Energy reported a 59% increase in profits last year. AGL’s half-year profits doubled to $1.27 billion. Meanwhile, the Albanese government’s response is to hand out taxpayer-funded rebates, which ultimately just go straight into the pockets of these corporations.
These rebates aren’t about helping you—they’re about ensuring energy companies continue to get paid while the government avoids addressing the systemic failures in its energy policy. If Labor was serious about fixing Australia’s energy crisis, they would pause all coal plant closures until a reliable replacement is in place. Shutting down baseload power without a stable alternative has proven disastrous. They would invest in nuclear energy—the only true low-emission power source that can provide 24/7 reliability. They would stop subsidizing renewables at the expense of consumers, as billions are being funneled into wind and solar projects that fail to deliver cheap power. They would break up the energy monopolies and introduce real competition to bring down prices.
Until these changes happen, expect more of the same: higher prices, more government handouts, and power companies laughing all the way to the bank. Australians deserve real solutions, not another band-aid handout that only serves to prop up a broken system
