In Ravenshoe, a small town in far north Queensland about 1,600 kilometres north of Brisbane, Cameron Boscacci's family owns and runs the local wholesale bakery.
Demand tariffs are based on the maximum amount of power a customer draws from the grid over any 30-minute period during peak hours in the evening.Mr Boscacci says the family have tried to work out ways to reduce their demand at peak times, but the nature of the business means they have little room to move if they want to keep using power.
In the case of demand tariffs, the AER said: "Demand tariffs charge a consumer based on their maximum point-in-time demand at peak times. "Most businesses, particularly small businesses, just open up their power bill at the moment and they can't afford it and they're not quite sure why they can't afford it," Ms Brownie says."And if you ask them any question in relation to the tariff, many would actually struggle to tell you what tariff they're on.
To illustrate her case, she points to AER figures showing the number of small businesses in Queensland fell by 74 in the three months to the end of December."If you combine the high energy bills with labour costs, which people are finding just unbearable, on top of insurance costs that they can't afford.
He says flat rates – which charge people the same price for electricity from the grid regardless of when they buy it – had led to entrenched energy inequality in their own right.
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