Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed there will be no further rounds of electricity rebates after December 2025, ending a major plank of Labor’s cost-of-living support.
“The Cabinet decided this morning not to extend the electricity bill rebates,” Chalmers said on Dec. 8, calling the move a “difficult” decision but stressing the program was never meant to be ongoing.
The Energy Bill Relief Fund has provided three successive credits: a universal $300 subsidy in 2024–25, followed by a $150 payment from July, with the current round set to finish on Dec. 31.
“The Commonwealth has spent almost $7 billion on these three rounds of energy bill rebates,” Chalmers said, adding that states and territories contributed “another one and a half billion or so.”
He said the government now wants cost-of-living relief to be delivered through permanent measures rather than temporary subsidies.
“We’ve encouraged people not to see these as a permanent feature of the budget,” he added.
Instead, assistance would shift to the tax system, Medicare and pharmaceutical benefits, he said, noting upcoming tax cuts starting in 2026.
“The nature of that cost of living help is evolving over time, but our commitment to providing cost of living relief is constant.”
Inflation Pushes Bills Higher
The decision comes as headline inflation has climbed back to 3.8 percent.
Electricity prices rose 37.1 percent in the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), driven partly by state rebates ending in Queensland and Western Australia and by timing effects from the Commonwealth’s lump-sum payments.
Even stripping rebates out, electricity prices were up 5 percent, reflecting annual retail price resets.
Chalmers said the original rebates were introduced when inflation was close to 8 percent and were aimed at cushioning households during a period of extreme price pressure.
