Gas customers to be slugged extra $100

AFTER a huge rise in NSW electricity prices, it is expected gas bills will also increase.Residents could be paying an additional cost of up to $100 over three years under proposed increases from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) after it released a draft determination into gas prices yesterday.If the changes come into effect, it would add 90 cents per week to a typical Country Energy household customer's bill and $3.60 per week to a small business customer's bill from July 1.The IPART draft recommends a cumulative increase of between 12.5 and 17.5 per cent on gas prices over three years for all residents."The IPART gas decision is not yet final, it is only a draft decision," southern region general manager for Country Energy, David Nardi said."We expect customers to be paying a cumulative $100 extra over three years and a big part of that increase is to fund investment over the next five years." About 80 percent of the hike for Country Energy customers reflects an increase in network charges to invest in the company's gas network of $22.3 million over the next five yearsRegional president for St Vincent de Paul, Roger Harris, said if gas prices went up it would affect a lot of people, and increase the demand on charity workers."Many people we help out are on Centrelink. They won't be able to cover the expenses, not even basic expenses," he said. "We're starting to get people now who are lower paid workers who can't make ends meet, and these are people who actually work. With these rises going on, any charity is going to struggle raising funds to support these people."Exact increases for individual customers will depend on their consumption patterns and whether the federal government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is introduced from July 1, 2011. IPART's final report will be released in June.