A report into soaring grocery prices, rising energy bills and steep airfares will be released on Wednesday (7 February) amid expectations its findings and recommendations will cause a headache for some of the country’s biggest and most powerful companies.
It comes amid a cost of living crisis that has intensified an already-growing distrust of supermarkets, airlines and energy companies.
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A report into soaring grocery prices, rising energy bills and steep airfares will be released on Wednesday amid expectations its findings and recommendations will cause a headache for some of the country’s biggest and most powerful companies.
It came a few days after Professor Fels wrote to Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying a key recommendation of his report, to be released on February 7, was there should be a comprehensive ACCC inquiry into competition and prices in the retail food and grocery industry.
For the ACTU it was a no-brainer to hold a price gouging inquiry against a backdrop of a decade of flatlining wage growth, rising inflation and bulging profit margins among some of the country’s biggest companies.
Put simply, tweaks to the rules and new forms of market performance monitoring have not prevented record increases in wholesale electricity prices over recent years, some skyrocketing to $5000 and sometimes $15,000 a megawatt hour.
Professor Chester said what was needed were changes to the economic regulatory regime to reduce the possibility of further significant price increases by generation companies, which she hoped would feature in any policy recommendations.
The message is clear: an overhaul of the regulations and beefed up regulatory powers to fix an opaque, complex system that is failing to protect customers from potential price gouging.
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