Victoria’s Liberal opposition claims that “Victorians are paying more for power under the Allan Labor Government”, in a recent press release.
Tue 13 Jan 2026 11.00
Image: AAP/Joe Castro
Victoria’s Liberal opposition claims that “Victorians are paying more for power under the Allan Labor Government”, in a recent press release.
The claim is based on the latest data on prices from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This data shows that Melbourne’s electricity, gas, and overall prices have gone up over the last year, but by no more than the other states and territories:
| Electricity | Gas and other household fuels | Overall | |
| Melbourne | 15.5% | 4.3% | 3.0% |
| Sydney | 21.0% | 4.0% | 3.4% |
| Brisbane | 456.1% | 3.0% | 5.1% |
| Adelaide | 1.2% | 3.4% | 3.3% |
| Perth | -29.1% | 5.0% | 2.8% |
| Hobart | 1.6% | 7.7% | 3.6% |
| Darwin | 3.8% | -6.3% | 3.2% |
| Canberra | 14.1% | 1.4% | 3.3% |
Source: ABS
The ABS data shows that Melbourne’s price changes have been middle of the field compared to other state capitals.
It is important to remember that electricity prices can change significantly in these kinds of data due to the starting or ending of government rebates – this is what is behind the large changes in Brisbane and Perth.
The data shows that Victorians are paying slightly more for electricity, gas and goods overall now than they were in November 2024. But it is misleading for the Liberals to imply that this is different to other states, or that the Victorian Government is primarily responsible.
One price point where Victorian consumers have been hit hard has been household gas prices over the last decade:
| Sydney | Melbourne | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth | Hobart | Darwin | Canberra |
| 44% | 99% | 22% | 59% | 25% | 54% | 17% | 78% |
Source: ABS
The same data source shows that Melbourne’s household gas prices have doubled over the last decade, a significantly greater increase than the other state capitals.
Victoria traditionally had low gas prices, like most of east coast Australia. This changed when gas exports began out of Gladstone, Queensland, at the end of 2014. Since then, gas exports tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled wholesale electricity prices on Australia’s east coast.
If the Victorian Liberal Opposition wants to find the real cause of the state’s higher energy prices, they should point to the multinational gas export companies and the Queensland and Federal Governments that approved their operations.
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