WA households to receive second instalment of power bill credits from Cook Government in coming week

Hundreds of thousands of WA households are set for an early Christmas present with a power bill credit coming their way from the Cook Government that they may have forgotten.

The $400 credit was announced as part of the State Budget in July to help ease cost-of-living pressures amid rising interest rates and high inflation.

Households supplied by Synergy or Horizon Power automatically got a credit worth at least $200 applied to their bill in the July and August billing cycle, while the second instalment will begin being rolled out next week.

But households whose electricity is supplied through an embedded network, sub-metering arrangement, or other on-supply arrangement — such as homes in caravan parks, retirement villages or apartments – need to go online to apply for their credit.

The deadline for applications has been extended from November 30 to March 31.

“We want everyone, particularly at this time of the year as Christmas is approaching, to benefit from this household electricity credit,” Premier Roger Cook told reporters on Sunday.

“This will give eligible households more time to apply and to receive the credit, and that will be welcome news for those who haven’t had the opportunity yet.”

So far, about 15,000 credits for households in this category have been paid out and Commerce Minister Sue Ellery says more are eligible.

“We think that there are probably more who can apply and so this is about making sure everybody gets the opportunity,” she said.

Premier Roger Cook said the announcement would be welcomed as Christmas approached. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian

Energy Minister Bill Johnston said WA’s power demand climbed to an all-time high on Thursday afternoon as temperatures in Perth reached 40C.

“We had our record ever power usage last Thursday – 4037 megawatts of system demand,” he said.

Commerce Minister Sue Ellery said the deadline extension was to encourage take-up of the credit by those eligible for it. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian

“The grid coped with that and we have no expectation of any difficulty with the grid over summer.”

Efforts had to be made to keep the grid stable, Mr Johnston said, with large industrial customers getting a discount for powering down under agreements to help manage the system.

Energy Minister Bill Johnston said Thursday’s 40C temperature in Perth drove power demand to a record high. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian

“If we didn’t do this, we would have to have standby generators that never get used except for once every three or four years – that would be exceptionally expensive,” he said.

“So it’s much better for householders, it’s much better for industry to work together to manage the system.”