With the new Coalition Government now in power, one wonders if we will ever get some reprieve from rising power prices as promised. For those who voted based on those promises, it may not be good news ahead.

The Coalition promised that the removal of the carbon tax would help ease the pressure on Australian households making them around $550 a year better off. Despite Tony Abbott saying he would abolish the carbon tax as his first matter of business once elected, it looks likely that it will take two years before this happens as a result of contracts and agreements.

Cameron O’Reilly, chief executive of the Energy Retailers Association, said that by July 2014, “the industry is likely to have locked in hedging arrangements for 2014-15 – so there will be a lag between passing the bill and carbon coming off retail bills.”

The chief executive of the Energy Supply Association of Australia, Matthew Warren, agreed saying, “Price regulation and forward contracting make it very difficult to unwind the carbon price in the middle of a financial year. It would create enormous logistical problems to try to unwind the carbon price from electricity pricing before the end of the financial year in which the carbon price repeal took place.”

As previous reported, rising power prices are more as a result of network charges (poles and wiring) than from renewable energy incentives and programs. In the next years while we wait for the carbon tax to be abolished, what effect will poles and wiring have on our current electricity prices? Any savings we might encounter in the future may already be eaten up by increased caused by infrastructure.

There has also now been some uncertainty created about the Direct Action plan which aims to reduce greenhouse gases. Independent research suggests that it will fall well short of the target of 5%. Rumour is that the Coalitions Direct Action policy will not receive the necessary support from senators which is leaving some long term goals to be desired. Many are wondering if we will be left with no policy in place to reduce greenhouse gases at all!

With the Coalition promising to review the Renewable Energy Target (RET) once again this year, get in and start looking at having solar power installed in your home today. Use the power the sun produces for you for free rather than use electricity from the grid at ever rising prices.