‘We didn’t know’: Saffioti unaware of Canberra’s $300 power bill discount after announcing $400 off for WA

WA developed its $400 power bill credit without knowing Canberra was preparing to tip in another $300 just days later, Treasurer Rita Saffioti has revealed. Speaking after Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the national $3.5 billion cost-of-living measure, the centrepiece in Tuesday night’s Federal Budget, Ms Saffioti said the payment schedule to families would be negotiated with Canberra. . In last Thursday’s State Budget, Ms Saffioti announced another $400 credit, the fourth offered to WA households since 2020. “We didn’t know about the $300 to every household. We understood that they were looking at cost-of-living support,” Ms Saffioti said. “We made sure that we made room for any initiative they would produce.” However, the timing of the payments was due to be negotiated with the Federal Government, Ms Saffioti said, after WA announced its $400 would be paid in two parts. “Now they have outlined that they want to introduce a quarterly and we’ve got ours coming every six months. Of course, every state has different billing cycles and different ways they charge for electricity,” she said. “We’ll go into negotiations now on how we deliver that to make sure it’s the best outcome for households.” The two measures combined mean West Australians will automatically receive $700 off their power bills from July. Under the State Government’s rebate, the first would be applied to a household’s bill in July or August, and the second in their first summer statement, in December or January. Funding for the federal scheme however is expected to be paid quarterly, leaving the State to decide when the additional $300 will be applied. Based on the representative household modeled in the State Budget, a family expected to spend $1900 on electricity this financial year will now only pay $1200. Ms Saffioti rejected questions over whether the rebates would add to inflation, saying the discounts would bring “welcome relief”. “The biggest contributor to the inflation issue that can that lingers in our community is housing costs and that’s why we’re doing all we can to support more housing, and we’ve seen specific initiatives in the federal government to support our renters,” she said. WA’s fourth power bill rebate, now the largest offered to households, comes after the McGowan Government announced $600 off bills in 2020 in the wake of the Bell Group settlement. Since then, Labor has repeatedly offered the $400 discounts to WA homes, and the move was copied by the Queensland Government, who recently flagged rebates of $1000 for that state.