· Distribution portion of customer gas bills in New South Wales could be reduced by an average of $292 (21%) over the next five years for a typical NSW residential customer.
· Jemena Gas Network revised 2020 Plan submitted to Australian Energy Regulator.
Natural gas customers in New South Wales will save $292 (21 per cent) for a typical household over a five year period as leading energy infrastructure company, Jemena, proposes cuts to the cost of its gas distribution charges. The savings increase to $460 over five years for regional residential customers, who typically consume more natural gas.
Jemena, which owns and operates the Jemena Gas Network (JGN) – the largest in Australia, with 1.4 million customers – has today written to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to recommend a revised cost structure for the next five year period, 2020-2025.
The revised JGN 2020 Plan also proposes a reduction in gas prices for all commercial and industrial customers by, on average, 25 per cent - a saving of $16,296 over five years for a typical large commercial customer.
Jemena's Executive General Manager of Gas Distribution, Dr. Jennifer Purdie, said the recommended cuts are based on extensive customer engagement.
"We were pleased the AER's draft decision recognised the considerable input our customers had in our decision making process and the 2020-2025 price plan submission.
"Our customers told us they want to pay a fair price for natural gas to cook, heat homes, and for hot water. They also want us to take appropriate action now to respond to uncertainty around the long term future of the gas grid," Dr Purdie said.
The Jemena Gas Network 2020 Plan was developed during a period of unprecedented change in the Australian energy market. Many of the changes have important implications for customers, and for the business, both in the short and longer term, which is why key focus areas in the JGN 2020 Plan include:
· driving sustainable cost reductions, without compromising safety or reliability, to put downward pressure on bills;
· innovating for a lower carbon gas future by readying the network to transport low-carbon gas;
· delivering balanced outcomes across household and business customers, current and future generations, and city and regional areas of NSW;
· connecting 135,000 new customers to the network and
· continuing to promote gas as a competitive fuel choice, which will help to lower bills in the future.
Planning for the future
"Our customers want to continue to use gas into the future. Our challenge is to manage the current network effectively while taking into consideration issues such as population growth and increased urbanisation.
"For example, in planning for the new Aerotropolis around Badgery's Creek airport, we want to ensure trunk pipeline infrastructure can support future demand and growth. It's not in anyone's interest to have to expand and extend pipelines retrospectively.
"Our customers also told us that they expect us, and the energy industry, to innovate and plan for the future so that they can continue to use gas in the longer term, as we move to a lower carbon future. Our Western Sydney Green Gas project is one example of how we are innovating for a greener energy future," Dr Purdie said.
Jemena now calls on AER and energy retailers to pass on the recommended price reductions to customers. The AER will issue its final decision on 30 April 2020. The new price structure is effective from 1 July 2020.
Gas distribution costs make up approximately 40 per cent of the bill for a typical residential customer.
To read the Jemena Gas Network Revised 2020 Plan, click here
To watch the Jemena Gas Network engagement forum video, clickhere.
For more about the Western Sydney Green Gas project, visit www.jemena.com.au
About Jemena
Jemena is an $11 billion company that owns and manages some of Australia's most significant gas and electricity assets. These include:
· the Jemena Gas Network servicing almost 1.4 million customers around NSW
· the Eastern Gas Pipeline which delivers gas from Victoria's Gippsland basin to the ACT, Sydney and regional NSW
· the Darling Downs Pipeline Network in south-east Queensland supplying Darling Downs Power Station and APLNG's export pipeline
· the Queensland Gas Pipeline which supplies Gladstone and Rockhampton
· the Darling Downs Pipeline System which transports gas to the Wallumbilla gas trading hub, the 630MW Darling Downs Power Station, and to the feeder pipeline to the APLNG LNG liquefaction plant at Gladstone
· Jemena's Victorian electricity network which delivers electricity to over 350,000 homes and businesses in northern and western Melbourne
· the Northern Gas Pipeline from Tennant Creek in Northern Territory to Mount Isa in Queensland.
Jemena also part-owns the ActewAGL electricity and gas distribution networks in the ACT and United Energy, which supplies electricity to more than 600,000 customers across south-eastern Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
