An n woman has slammed corporations for raising prices with no justification, fueling the cost-of-living crisis.
Bec expressed her frustration with her energy provider after receiving her latest bill , striking a chord with many who are struggling to afford the basics.
‘Can someone f***ing tell me why my Origin Energy bill doubled in the last six months?’ she asked in a video posted on social media.
She explained that her local café was ‘too scared’ to pass on their soaring costs and hike the price of their coffees by 50c.
‘[The coffee shop] has suppliers for milk, sugar, and wages, and they’re too scared to increase prices because they don’t want to lose customers,’ Bec explained.
‘Yet, we have greedy, large corporations like Origin and AGL doubling what we pay for essentials like energy to our homes,’ she added.
‘Can someone please tell me if they’re paying their staff double what they were six months ago? Someone help me out with this.’
Bec called the cost-of-living crisis a ‘joke’ and claimed that ‘inflation is just a cop-out’ for large corporations to gouge customers.
Many ns agreed with Bec and shared their experiences of rising costs for essential bills.
‘Why has my car insurance gone up $800 in one year, I’ve never made a claim,’ one person wrote.
‘My mobile bill just went up $20/month because they said rising maintenance costs. I call bulls**t on that! Plus, service is worse than ever,’ another wrote.
‘My house insurance has gone up $720 a year, and my electricity bill has doubled. It all sucks,’ a third commented.
Others claimed big businesses hike customer bills as they know no-one can go without that product, while buying a coffee was discretionary spending.
‘The difference is ‘needs and wants’. You need power but coffee and cafes are a want. They know you need power. Simple. Greed,’ one person wrote.
Another added: ‘No one needs overpriced coffee, that’s why they won’t put it up. Sure, you can live without electricity, but I don’t think many people would.’
A sixth said: ‘There is no need for energy companies to keep on hiking up the price. But they do because they get away with it and there is no action from the Govt.’
In the year to May, power bills climbed by 6.5 per cent – above the rate of inflation – according to data released by the n Bureau of Statistics.
The rise saw the Albanese government introduce a $300 energy bill rebate for all n households to help combat the rising cost of living.
From July 1, households would see a $300 credit automatically applied to their electricity bills, while one million small businesses would receive $325 off their bills.
Critics have slammed the measure, saying such rebates only reduce the competitive pressure on energy firms to ease their prices and may contribute to further price rises.
Meanwhile, inflation jumped to four per cent in the year to May, up from 3.6 per cent the month before, prompting NAB analysts to warn that any interest rate cut could be delayed until after May next year.
The cocktail of rising energy bills, higher petrol prices and skyrocketing rents have helped push the consumer price growth to a six-month high – well above the Reserve Bank’s two to three per cent target.
Analysts from UBS and Deutsche Bank have now joined Judo Bank chief economist Warren Hogan to predict a 14th rate hike in August.
The prediction could be a crushing blow to embattled mortgage holders who have weathered 13 rate hikes between May 2022 and November 2023.
Despite the tough times, the prime minister is expected to talk up his government’s cost of living measures and economic management record in parliament this morning.
But some economists warn that Mr Albanese’s soending measures designed to offset price rises – such as the non-means-tested $300 energy rebate – run the risk of keeping inflation high and therefore hurting battling Aussies in the pocket.
‘Governments are throwing a lot of money at the symptoms of the cost-of-living crisis, but that worsens the cause of it. And the cause is too many dollars chasing too little stuff,’ independent economist Chris Richardson told The n.
‘Governments have abandoned the field in the inflation fight. We are fighting the inflation fight one-handed.’
In news that will stir anger in the hearts of struggling households, Mr Richardson warned that ‘mortgage relief is a very, very long way away’.
EY chief economist Cherelle Murphy also said another rate hike was now a strong possibility when the RBA meets again in August.
‘The monthly consumer price index has jolted financial markets, which are now once again seriously considering the possibility of another rate hike from the Reserve Bank at its next meeting,’ she said.
The bad news was delivered only a week after RBA Governor Michele Bullock confirmed a rate rise was more likely than a rate cut, with the cash rate this month left on hold at a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent.
‘Yes, the board did discuss the case for increasing interest rates at this meeting,’ she told reporters.
‘No, the case for a cut was not considered.’