Tuesday, 17 March 2026

 Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:08): I am delighted to inform the house that the draft Victorian power price released last week, the Victorian default offer, is down 3 per cent on average from 1 July this year. That would mean $46 per year less on the average bill for around 510,000 Victorian households, including those in apartments, caravan parks and retirement villages. Small businesses would see an average decrease of $172 on their bills, or 5 per cent less. The final price will be released in May and is subject to change. Certainly we understand that globally there are some strong problems around the Middle East with fuel supply and the like, but this VDO is a very, very good sign.

This does not happen by accident; it is due to improvements, this time around in energy efficiency led by our Victorian energy upgrades program. We have insisted on less profits for retailers and certainly more savings for households. Our government introduced the VDO – we led the country in this – which cut standing offer prices by 24 per cent in its first year and which still has them 12 per cent below what the VDO replaced in 2019, so the VDO is still lower than the standing offer it replaced in 2019. Victorian households’ power bills are consistently the lowest in the country, and the VDO is not the only way we are helping households with their energy bills. The VEU has provided energy-efficiency upgrades to more than 2.4 million households right across this state, and in the last four years alone Victorians have saved $3.8 billion in avoided costs to our energy system thanks to the VEU. Even if Victorians do not participate in the VEU, they still benefit from lower wholesale electricity prices. Only the Allan Labor government will back Victorian households when it comes to their energy bills.