Families experiencing hardship as the cost of living soars will be eligible to have part of their daytime electricity supplied free.

July 10, 2023

Western Australian families doing it tough amid cost of living pressures will be supplied with free power during off-peak times.

The Community Energy program will provide electricity at no cost between 9am and 3pm to eligible households experiencing financial hardship, with the benefit capped at $500 per year.

Premier Roger Cook said many people in the community were struggling financially due to higher interest rates and inflation.

“The measure of any government is the degree to which they stand by those who are doing it tough,” he said on Monday.

“This new program will save potentially hundreds of dollars for thousands of Western Australians who might be struggling to pay their electricity bills.”

The program gives about 9000 eligible households 10 units of zero-cost electricity in off-peak times, which is about three-quarters of an average household’s daily usage.

The program also encourages customers to shift their consumption away from evening peak times to the middle of the day when household usage is traditionally low.

It comes as the WA government releases the first of two instalments of a promised electricity credit, with a minimum of $200 provided to every household across the state.

A further $200 credit will be supplied in the November to December billing period.

The opposition said the measures don’t go far enough and the Cook government can afford to provide more support given the state’s budget surplus.

“While both measures will assist families struggling with massive cost of living rises over the last year, they fall well short of the level of support the government can afford to provide,” deputy WA Liberals leader Steve Thomas said.