General News
22 March, 2023
Power prices pushing new pressures
SURGING electricity costs at one of Mortlake’s most popular stores is placing pressure on prices.
SURGING electricity costs at one of Mortlake’s most popular stores is placing pressure on prices.
From December 2022 to January 2023, the electricity bill for Bates IGA rose from $4146.46 to $7231.10.
The almost $3000 rise comes despite the fact the store has installed solar panels, however power costs represent just 42.6 per cent of the bill.
The costs include more than $2100 in network charges, $830 in environmental charges and $470 in metering charges.
Bates IGA manager Ian Mahncke said the store had shared news of the costs rise on social media as he wanted to be transparent at a time when customers were already doing it tough.
“We’re not looking for sympathy, but we wanted our customers to know our rising costs aren’t about trying to make a profit,” he said.
“Our power contract came due and when it was time to renew we looked in to the best deal; we went with the best price we could get, and it’s locked in for four or five years but has effectively almost doubled our power.
“The solar panels we put on, we hope they will pay for themselves, but that’s a sizeable expense on top of rising costs which everyone is experiencing.”
Mr Mahncke said the energy prices had put added strain on the business at a time when increased competition was already making an impact as national giants expand their delivery options to rural towns.
“You try to give a good service to your town, your community, your district, but there is pressure of businesses like Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, who won’t be facing the rising costs pressure we are,” he said.
“We often see the Coles delivery truck in Mortlake and we’d have our head in the sand if we didn’t see it.”
Mr Mahncke said he lamented knowing costs would have to be passed on to consumers, but among rising power and distribution costs plus the increased competition, action needed to be taken.
“You’re always conscious of the people you service, you know the pressure is there for them, but it’s a pressure we’re experiencing too.
“If we don’t pass the cost on, we’re not here in the end.
“We’d just go broke.”
Mr Mahncke said he did not take a hard-line approach for or against wind farms, but questioned why a community inundated in renewable energy projects such as Mortlake was being hit so hard by increased energy costs.
In addition, a business facing significant “environmental charges” despite having added solar panels in an environmentally conscious move was also a head scratcher.
“These things (renewable energy projects) were supposed to help keep costs down, but every house using power is affected by it,” Mr Mahncke said.
“And when we are, it affects everyone else as well because the costs of their goods increase.”
“When we put our first lot of solar panels on we had about a 25 per cent saving but unfortunately the additional charges are skyrocketing despite us putting panels on to try and keep our costs down.”