Guaranteed lower prices will lead to big savings for Victorian energy consumers

The Brotherhood of St Laurence today welcomed the Victorian Government's announcement of a Victorian Default Offer and the abolition of default standing offers.

The Victorian Default Offer, which complements a Federal Coalition Government proposal for a similar Default Offer (in other jurisdictions), would require electricity and gas retailers to offer lower-price default offers to everyone. Currently, retailers' default standing offers are higher than their discounted offers, which households need to shop around for.

BSL has advocated for a Basic Service Offer, or Default Offer, similar to today's announcement, for a number of years and conducted research that has demonstrated the value for low-income households. Critically, households on very low incomes, culturally and linguistically diverse households and renters in public housing pay more for their energy than other households.

They are more likely to be on higher cost offers."This is an essential reform to lower energy bills", said Damian Sullivan, Senior Manager, Energy, Equity and Climate Change.

"Low-income Victorian households will save hundreds of dollars each year when the Victorian Default Offer is implemented."