The State Liberals are warning the massive increase in the spot price of electricity this financial year threatens to undermine the future economic viability of some energy intensive industries in South Australia.

“South Australia’s average price of $351 per megawatt hour so far this financial year is stratospheric and is almost 400 per cent higher than the price the rest of the National Electricity Market (NEM) has paid,” said Shadow Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Dan van Holst Pellekaan. (Figures below)

“Energy intensive businesses cannot tolerate such a massive difference in the price of electricity for any extended period of time.

“Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has advised South Australian households to shop around in search of a better deal for their power – if businesses follow the Treasurer’s advice there will be an exodus out of South Australia to the eastern seaboard.

“The Treasurer’s claim that large businesses should have known for a long time of these looming price increases and that they should have locked into forward contracts to give themselves insurance is quite frankly startling.

“When the State Liberals raised the prospect of surging electricity prices earlier this year the Treasurer dismissed our concerns as fearmongering.

“Now he’s claiming that the businesses were at fault because he has delivered the highest electricity prices in the nation.

“Treasurer Koutsantonis neither takes responsibility nor offers any solutions for the disastrous electricity prices his flawed energy policies have created.

“According to Treasurer Koutsantonis, it’s small customers’ fault for not shopping around, it’s large customers’ fault for not buying forward contracts and it’s the weather’s fault, but it’s never his responsibility.”

NEM average annual spot prices (per financial year)

Year	NSW	QLD	SA	TAS	VIC
2015-2016	51.60	59.99	61.67	102.70	46.14
2016-2017 (YTD)	93.71	83.49	350.90	93.61	91.63