Renewables are delivering real results with electricity prices falling for NSW households and businesses thanks to wind, batteries and a reformed regulatory framework. Today in Parliament, Abigail contributed to a debate challenging the NSW Government to be more ambitious in the face of surging demand from hyperscale data centres which threaten to stall progress.
Abigail said:
The Greens are happy to support the motion. The Australian Energy Regulator [AER] yesterday released its final determination for the default market offer 2026-27, known as DMO 8. The headline is that electricity prices are coming down for the majority of households and all small businesses across the three regulated regions. It is a meaningful outcome for consumers and represents real relief on power bills heading into the new financial year. In New South Wales residential prices will fall between 3.4 per cent and 7.7 per cent, depending on tariff type and distribution zone. Small business customers are seeing reductions across every region, with New South Wales businesses benefiting from decreases of between 9.0 per cent and 20.9 per cent.
The price decreases reflect easing cost pressures across several parts of the electricity supply chain, including lower wholesale energy costs driven by reduced electricity contract prices, less spot price volatility and increased output from wind and battery generation during evening peaks. The updated DMO framework, following the Australian Government's 2025 review, also ensures that standing offer prices more closely reflect the efficient costs of supplying electricity, stripping out unnecessary retailer overheads. Under the new statutory framework, the AER is now required to set prices based on efficient costs of supply, referencing mandatory considerations. For the first time, the DMO also includes a regulated Solar Sharer Offer, which a significant new consumer initiative that will give households with smart meters access to free electricity during peak solar hours in the middle of the day.
It is worth noting that the DMO is a safety net, not the cheapest available plan. Fewer than 10 per cent of households and about 18 per cent of small businesses are currently on standing offers. But the determination locks in prices for 12 months from 1 July 2026 and reflects genuine structural improvements in the energy market, including more renewables, growing battery storage and a reformed regulatory framework. A large part of the price drops can be attributed to renewable energy. Australia's main energy grids clocked over 50 per cent renewable generation for the first time at the end of last year. Some 440,396 home batteries have been installed since 1 July. Those home batteries, together with a big uplift in grid-scale batteries and a smaller contribution from community batteries, are making a real difference.
That is undeniably a good news story, showing that, thanks to renewables as well as improvements to the scheme design, power prices for households and businesses are going down. But that progress will be stalled if we do not recognise the recent increases in demand, particularly from large, hyperscale data centres. I challenge the New South Wales Labor Government to now be more ambitious in the face of that challenge and rising demand, and to go further than the New South Wales Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap currently does. It will be vital for not only our climate but also energy prices for people across our State as we go forward.
Read the debate in Hansard here.
27 May 2026