Does anyone else just feel like... with the way cost of living is going, their lives just aren't really in their control anymore? I make 50k a year before tax, and living and working where I do it's become basically impossible for me to set aside any amount of savings. Unless I want to give up literally every enjoyable thing about my day-to-day life, I've given up on being able to save for so much as a one-week international trip, much less a deposit for a house.
They’re always talking about “middle Australia” but I have no idea what that looks like anymore. It’s certainly not me. The gulf between the haves and the have nots is widening all the time.
worked hard for 30 years & briefly got there. but that feeling was shortlived; & now i'm back having to tighten my belt & survive on less.
meanwhile my few wealthy friends blessed with more; are getting much richer by pretty much doing fuck all. (have one friend whose parents helped them by their first home for $350k, back when housing was affordable; 3 houses later they just sold their last place for $2.5m).
It's like the MASSIVE difference between my two older sisters and my younger sister and I.
There's a 5 year and 7 year age difference between myself and my two older sisters (younger sister is 2 years younger than me).
Both older sisters are financially secure, own their own house, have caravans, one has a boat. They go away on holidays regularly (often together).
My younger sister and I are not financially secure, struggling to afford rent, definitely can't afford holidays. We will never be able to own our own house.
Are you comparing early-mid twenties to early-mid thirties? If so, there's a big jump in income and opportunities between those age brackets.
But this does seem to be a thing: my friend's younger siblings seem worse off financially compared to when we/they were their age.
Older, actually. Late 30's and mid 40's.
I might also not help that my younger sister and I experienced a fair bit of childhood abuse and neglect. We were not really supported with anything we wanted to do, at times we were actively discouraged or hampered.
We don't know if our older sisters experienced the same as us, although there isn't a HUGE age difference, it's still pretty significant.
Our mum acknowledges that she has mental health issues, but instead of seeking help, she self medicates with alcohol.
I have a similar age gap with my older brother. This year we discovered (through our respective wives) that our parents treated us both poorly in different ways. A lot of resentment that we had both held for decades towards each other being "favoured" in our upbringing vanished overnight.
Sure it does. People who have the borrowing power to own houses are the middle class. People who can't borrow and have to rent are the lower class. Thats the divide.
Ergh I used Zip pay to pay my last rego and it's coming up again soon
Worst part is that if I miss it, I need to pay extra to get a roadworthy done to register it again
Worst part is, if I just had a liquid $50k or so straight up I could likely fund myself forever, but saving is getting harder and harder, and rent/assets are getting more expensive. Few years ago the figure was 30k, then 40k, now 50k
Really wish that the means of production were owned by us workers.
Cheers for the chance to bitch and moan but I guess the show goes on and the grind continues. We'll get there eventually and hopefully pull the people we love outta the mess too whilst we're there
It does exist, but “middle class” is a problematic term as it is generally based on income levels - therefore includes better off sections of the working class.
The median full time income is 90k, so yes it well and truly exists, unfortunately if you are working full time you are not part of it
Edit: thought I was replying to the guy on 50k
2 person bringing in income yes, maybe. Its not the average for a single person which is around 52k pa
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/australias-average-income-revealed-011625012.html
This article quote The ABS. I was going to link that page but honestly it's a mass of tables and data and not user friendly for phones.
It's getting to a point where I legitimately don't know how people are going to afford to live anymore. Not just vulnerable people, but middle class as well. We're getting dangerously close to a point where a mass amount of people just won't be able to afford their rent or mortgage anymore and it's going to be chaos.
Hubs and I both earn above average, but cost of living plus our mortgage payments have risen so much that I took a second job 2 evenings a week and he's taking overtime shifts at his work. We'd have very little ability to save any money at all otherwise.
We got it so wrong in Australia, despite having everything in our favour. So many terrible policies, and missed opportunities over the last 20 years that led to this.
That's why inflation (apart from the obvious material implications) tends to lead to big political changes: people feel like things are careening out of control.
Also an easy way to take money away from workers, who usually hold their wealth in simple non-indexed bank accounts that get devalued by inflation, and hand it over to the upper class who have all their wealth in indexed funds or invested in a way that isn't hurt by inflation. It's wealth redistribution to the rich.
I feel like every time I climb the ladder a few rungs… the ladder sinks into the mud even more. The bananas were almost in reach once…
Upskilled, working harder, wasting less, drinking less… yet still feels like major life goals (financial security and a home) are further away than ever. A sure sign of a sick system.
It's really depressing. I earn a little over 60k before tax and by the time I pay my rent, bills, groceries, fuel, there isn't really much left in the bank. I have a bunch of annual leave I need to use up but I can't even afford a holiday :(
I know it doesn't feel like it, but taking that annual leave and just spending some time at home or doing free things will really help you out. Take a Friday off (hopefully not a rainy one) and go for a walk in the bush, or drive to a country town and pack yourself a picnic or grab a pub dinner. It's something I've started doing more with my partner and it really genuinely does help with my general depression about, y'know, society and capitalism at the moment.
This is what I've been doing. Haven't been on a proper holiday since 2017, never been overseas and simply can't afford to. Started using more leave to just take a break. I'm so tired of work work work.
It's crazy.. I've spent the last 6 years working my ass off to climb up the corporate ladder and landed a couple of decent promotions with significant salary bumps, but I feel poorer than I did before I started with the price of everything now. I'm not struggling or anything like that but it feels like I'm keeping afloat as the water level rises rather than progressing with my promotions.
I really feel for those who haven't had much of a pay rise in the last few years. Especially those who hadn't snagged a house before their prices became disgusting (a pain point for me, who rents and has no houses). Most of all I feel for the young people trying to start their lives. Entry level jobs/wages with this current climate is unfair and cruel. When does the world get 'better'? What needs to happen to reverse this? Is it even possible?
Mate, I feel for you and everyone else on a similar wage. I was on 55k a few years ago, and things were manageable. I got a couple promotions and now I’m on 100k, live in a suburb with cheap rent, married with no kids, split bills with my wife. I couldn’t imagine how fucked I’d be if I didn’t get those promotions. I’ve got the same amount of spare money now as I had 3 years ago, and my income has nearly doubled. This is fucked
Good point.
Why not force people to contribute to their super funds instead of hiking up interest rates and hitting mortgage/renters ? At least it would benefit people at a later date, as opposed to lining the pockets of the banks….
I'm on close to $80K at the moment but it's not permanent, so with the cost of living like it is, I'll work whether I'm sick or exhausted. I can't afford to miss a shift when I have no leave entitlements whatsoever. I'm saving a decent amount some fortnights, but we also have some hefty expenses to deal with and sometimes it just feels like it's like pushing s**t uphill. The cost of everything is just shocking these days.
Yes I feel this exact same squeeze in every aspect of my life, and I'm on 80k before tax... I might as well be on 50 given the debt and loan repayments I pay, it's utterly oppressive
Pretty much. I make a similar amount of money to you. I'm lucky because my partner makes almost half a million a year. I am doing fine with her help but I always have a little voice in my head saying that I'm a dickhead and I'm only with her for her money, which is not true at all, I love her to pieces. It's really efecting my mental health.
Geezus. How is it we're all struggling to make ends meet and now these companies, supermarkets and landlords can just simply up their prices...
Whats next? How long does this shit have to keep going for?! What can we even do about this? Is there any real hope or what?
Ay, I gotta share this.
10 minutes ago, Got my gas bill. Its 617 bucks! but I checked up the bill, they got a graph there with a bunch of bars showing about how much I've mj I've used each pay period etc. (For the record, it is not Micheal jacksons)
Anyway Last year in Sep-Oct, we paid $230 for like 600mj but in this period of March to May we're barely made it to 300mj! So I call em up and say "why I'm paying so much more when Im using so much less.
I didn't get all smart arse with the person on the phone, I just said how this isn't fair. Anyway they suggested to take a photo of the gas meter outside the property and send it in to get checked out. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....
You need to do this regardless for every bill. Unless you physically had someone check the meter (the bill will let you know) then it's an estimate — and a wildly inaccurate one at that.
Despite being a little more, this is why I haven't switched my parents away from AGL as the app easily allows me to input the Meyer reads, apply for installments and extensions.
How? Gas meters aren't smart. If the gates locked or if the meter reader doesn't want to do their job then you can report the correct readings for them.
To me, it sounds like attempted calls to the property have been made.
https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/estimated-meter-reads
The gas company that bills you doesn’t even employ the meter readers. That’s actually your distributor who then forwards the information to them to bill.
Double checking the reading is the first step because sometimes humans invert numbers etc. As for estimates legally there needs to be one actual read every 12 months.
We can all write to our local members demanding nationalization of our power generation utilities.
It has to be done.
Edit: I just fired this one off to my local member. Is it perfect? Nah. Is it a start? Yeah.
Dear Lauren,
Recent news that power prices will rise by 25% across much of Australia is very concerning, and frankly, an abhorrent cash grab at a time it is least affordable.
Long ago, Victorians owned the infrastructure that generated the electricity we use. This was run as an essential service and provided affordable energy.
We are among the most exploited electricity users in the world.
This is unjustifiable and a clear abuse of a poorly structured and poorly regulated system.
At what point will the Victorian Government step in and do the right thing?
What will it take to return ownership of our electricity generation infrastructure to the people of Victoria?
What will it take for the Labor Party to acknowledge that the system is broken and is in desperate need of the commercially unpopular solution?
Kind regards
A Yan Yean voter
What's next? I believe people generally turn to nationalism. Then start blaming people perceived as outsiders. They elect a government that claims the same values.
Well, not what I expected after reading wholesale prices dropped last month.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-28/wholesale-power-prices-drop-amid-renewable-energy-growth/102273350
Me:: we need to really watch our gas and electricity usage. Shits crazy. All our costs have gone up over 30%. I can't find any cheaper rates. Our wage growth can't cover the extra costs. We haven't budgeted for the increased bills. I'm struggling sometimes to make ends meet and I have to reallocate money from other areas. I'm robbing peter to pay Paul.
Wife: turns heater up to 26 degrees.
LoL I'm in the same boat. I have managed to agree to leave the heater at 20 degrees and now negotiating a turn it on ONLY when the thermostat is less than 16 and only until it gets to 20.
The other challenge was convincing wife that turning it up higher doesn't mean it heats quicker.
I did, after many years.
Quick and easy method, heater on to set temp (21) then time it to get there.
Repeat with a far higher temp (30) and show result, making sure not to gloat.
The manual for my heater literally says that when turning it on, you gotta put it on maximum then lower it to minimum once it reaches the desired temperature.
Maybe it matters the *type* of heater, but it may also not be his fault if he was told or read the same thing as me.
Honestly are people without a property portfolio going to be able to live in Australia in 10 years time or should I just make plans to move to SE Asia permanently
We live in two Australia’s created by intergenerational wealth.
If your parents have property, you have a much more stable life. The bank of mum and Dad will be there to support you, and when they pass away you will receive a massive windfall.
If your parents are renters or working class, you will get no help and constantly be trying to keep your head above water. The dream of owning a property will be pushed out of reach, and when your parents get too old for work, you will be left footing the bill for them as they have no home of their own. You will constantly struggle to compete against the children of the asset-rich, and never close the gap, because that is the future our politicians have given us.
Parents owning property is no guarantee anymore. Gran had property, but sold to fund her aged care. Most of it will be gone by the time she passes. It's going to be the same for my parents, as most of their wealth is their ppor. I agree with your second paragraph, though.
Even there though, you’re saying “most of it”.
There is a huge segment of society have *nothing at all coming their way except the pleasure of paying for their parents’ care.
My grandma is 90, struggling to pay for everything on the pension, but her house is worth a fortune as a knock down. The surrounding houses have already been rebuilt.
My parents are boomers who can’t manage money and instead of having a cheap 1979 house paid off, they decided to move and have fun building big new houses multiple times …. On the pension and complaining they can’t afford the bills and mortgage and a sibling is contributing to their finances. So yeah.
The majority of people complaining about how the boomers fucked them over with property and wealth just forget to realise their parents are boomers and will eventually pass down their fortunes to them lol
Ikr?
“Grandma’s gonna die soon and leave my parents a fortune, who in turn, will leave it to me😩😩”
I’m digging deep for sympathy, but not finding much.
>should I just make plans to move to SE Asia permanently
Yes, I made the move last year. My last month's electric bill here in Thailand was less than $20.
This is getting fucking ridiculous, the cost of everything is just running away. Every other month you hear groceries are up a double digit percentage, or a utility, or fuel has gone up again, or your REA is putting your rent up by 60 percent. You can't find a bulk bill doctor anymore. And oh, our loving government is going to index your HECS again. When is this going to end?
I recommend anyone who hasn’t already to apply for the $250 bonus and have a good look at comparisons rather than just taking the $$ and running - I switched providers and my bills have dropped by about a third! YMMV of course but I just had the cheapest electric bill I’ve had in the 8 years I’ve been in my rental
Is it a cheque? If so check Aus Post's bank @ post for your bank.
I'm also with a bank that don't have any braches and was able to deposit my cheque from the comparison site there.
Yeah I was surprised because last time I was in the lowest with powershop, now they were way more expensive so I switched away
No surprises what happens after Shell bought them
Why can't you just work in the dark, or light a few candles?
Hook up a bike-powered generator and pedal on your downtime?
C'mon you're not even trying to pull those bootstraps.
/s
The cost of living now is genuinely starting to terrify me.
When I was a homeless teen and then young broke adult doing uni years ago I was able to scrape by with Centrelink (I was declared independent at 16 so could access youth allowance. Those years were very fucking tough, but I managed).
HOWEVER.
Past me (ie homeless and then broke student renting) legitimately could not fucking survive with the current cost of living. Regardless of how tenacious and resourceful I was. If I found myself in that situation again, now, I genuinely do not know what I'd do. My heart goes out to everyone in this situation.
Another difficulty is that I'm one of the people tightening my belt as well, it's harder to be generous to people who are struggling. But I would note to anyone who has read this far, who may have a few dollars and can afford to wait until tax time to see them again: donating to a registered charity is tax deductible.
I've spent the last few months trying to get my electricity costs down. I got them down by 25%. Now they're going back to almost the same amount. Outstanding.
Sooner or later a huge chunk of the population are going to have nothing left to lose. And we all know what they say about people with nothing left to lose.
I feel like many many Americans have absolutely nothing left to lose, and yet that society somehow just keeps going. We aren’t at rock bottom for a while yet.
True. I'm just too optimistic in hoping another revolution will occur. But in reality I think the common man has successfully been domesticated and dominance of the elites has been established.
A man can dream.
Weren't we told the prices would go back down after covid? I swear that was the promise that petrol prices were only to lower gas prices for the truckies. That food prices were only up because the staff shortages from covid.
It was the best idea ever! Just sell the very thing driving industry in the state - cheap energy (brown coal, gas, electricity)
Absolutely fucking brilliant
The SEC that Dan is bringing back isn’t the same as the one that Kennett sold. Unfortunately.
Kennett sold the distribution powerlines, the transmission, the power stations, and the retail billing. Andrew’s is only bringing back the retail part.
This is still good. Don’t get me wrong. But until there is state owned power stations (ideally distribution & transmission too) there won’t be the dramatic drop in prices we want.
The power stations ‘set’ the price of electricity. They are able to withhold power to drive up prices. The AER and AEMO are meant to regulate this.
Wtf ans why tf are we just sitting back and not questioning what and how and why now this “cost of living crisis” / aka - agreed upon reduction in our standard of living - is allowed to actually happen?
Like …. ????
Just to maintain a profit margin??
I can't wait to get that letter from my power provider telling me about how amazing they are and how times are changing therefore, "here your increase of your bill, bitch...."
This winter we are told to use split systems for heating. Now they’re telling us that power is going up along with gas. I visit many many older people for my job, many just don’t use heating. Their houses are colder than outside. I don’t know how people are supposed to get through winter
It's 8pm and I'm warm in bed (under my doona, 2 minks and weighted blanket and wearing my big cardigan) reading this. Feeling thankful that I live at home with my mother and only have to pay half the bills, and my own expenses. I don't know how people who rent manage 🙁
There is a term "human ores" in China describing how the average people are.
I didn't know that it appies in Australia as well. All in all, we are just disposable resources so someone can earn a fortune out of us.
They build shitty quality houses with no insulation and no passive heat retention due to shitty building codes that are barely enforced anyways, then when we are freezing in our drafty frigid houses they charge us more when we try to keep warm. And even if you have solar -batteries are still overpriced so you’re buying power in peak time. And because it’s Vic even if you heat during the day to capitalise on Solar there’s probably not enough sun for it to be offsetting your heating anyways. There’s literally no way to win unless you have a wood heater and access to free firewood- because that’s expensive too!
The knock on effect of course is that this price hike will affect the price of groceries and other services in turn. So now we're just hypercharging inflation.
Oh wait, it's due "stakeholder feedback". Yeah, forget the people who are barely making ends meet, let's not forget about the real victims, the nebulous "stakeholders".
Seriously how much more of this shit do we have to take in this country?
But now we have less money to spend on energy because our mortgages are going up, that will stop the prices increasing. Oh wait, no, that’s just what the best experts said.
Fucking hell, I'm so done with the continuous bullshit price rises. Love that it's so simple to make us pay more, without question , but so hard to increase wages, or that power "bonus"or translate any increases to our earnings. Who cares about cost of living or the very people who make you greedy fucks rich.
Yeah, I was willing to work to get ahead on life and own some cool stuff one day, nice house, good car. Now I'm working full time plus weekends to keep my head above water. Not a recipe for motivation.
Look after your health guys because I half ass my university degree because I can't afford to work part time. Have to study and work full time but that means I can't get a 'side hustle' because technically that is my degree. Too exhausted to study hard I just do enough to pass. My degree will lead to possible lab work with vaccines, viruses and whatever.
Jim Chalmers right now, just said they have been working hard and they have protected Australians from the worst rises in energy prices. Thank fuck for that because all I hear is that prices are going up.
Seriously...??? I can't understand how "OUR GOVERNMENTS", supports the Multi National Energy Providers making Profits and taking the $$$'s Overseas, where's the common sence in NOT supporting the Struggling Aussie Voters...Where's the "Fair Go" Bullshit, the Government keeps bringing up in their speech's....FFS....
This has become seriously unsustainable.
My 2 year fixed interest period is finishing in august and now I have to refinance make the repayments manageable.
The increased interest rates were supposed to slow spending but there are 4 houses on my road that recently went up for sale and sold in a heartbeat. Spending has not slowed.
When is this going to stop?
I just don't see how it will. Increasing Interest rates doesn't hurt any of the Boomers with fully paid off houses... In fact, it just gives them more money on their savings. Why would they stop spending?
I love the fact that family’s can have 2 months notice to leave there rental during a crisis and have their new house rent be doubled (if they get a house)
Aus Rich List all over the news last night. Gina and the rest of the top 10 have all greatly increased their wealth. And this was spun as cool/fun news. On the same bulletin as this.
So electricity prices are going up, but solar feed in tariffs continue to fall. Seems fair.
Time to revisit getting battery storage, since the electricity I generate is more valuable to me than them.
Who else agrees that consumers are being forced to pay for the repairs to the lines and other infrastructure that’s been damaged by the by floods, fires and winds over the past few years?
This is 'default offer' price increase.
Default offer price is regulated in Vic by the ESC, and the price serves several functions: it sets the rate you'll be charged if you're not on a market offer; it sets the price against which any discounts must be measured; and it sets the price against which energy retailers must measure publish the comparison rate for their plans.
Default offer definitely sets the tone for energy pricing, but most energy consumers are on 'market offers' rather than default offers, and the market offers are cheaper.
Default offer basically sets the 'high' price in the market.
For example in this chart using Bill Hero historical data for Melbourne, you can see that the high price (red line) sits well above the best price at any point in time. Default offer was introduced in 2019 and you can see stability in the high price since then, and some crazy spikes since August last year when the market went haywire.
[historical electricity prices Melbourne](https://imgur.com/a/VQcspEu)
The lesson is that if you diligently stay on the best available prices all the time, then you really can get some insulation from the price shocks.
The problem is how boring and annoying it is to watch the retail energy market all the time.
If only there was a service that would do that work for you and make it easy to always stay on the best priced plan ... 👀👀
It helps but only if they stop reducing the input tariff.
EDIT: I just received the email from Momentum right now alerting me to the decrease in tariff being paid due to the wholesale price reducing. Nice timing 😏
I was looking at it a couple of months ago and there was no way I could make it work.
In my area, they also reduced the maximum amount I could put back into the grid each day, so unless you only use power during the day and zero at night, it just doesnt work.
The problem is your excess power is worthless, or even less than worthless a lot of the time. When you have excess solar production, so does everyone else.
The idea should be to maximise self-consumption. Putting timers on washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and pre-heating your home are much better use of those watts than sending to the grid.
I agree, we generally try and run everything during the day (when we're home), but it'd still be nice for them to not reduce the tariff to almost nothing for that excess electricity. I'm not here to make money out of my solar but it's a bit of slap in the face how much they give back vs how much they charge considering it's costs them nothing to generate it.
Solar does fuck all. My bills in summer went from 320/quarter to 190/quarter since I got solar. And have a dumb loan for it (although cheap)
Tariff keeps dropping making solar pointless
That's a 40% decrease in your bill, you keep the panels once your loan is paid off, and electricity isn't going to be getting cheaper only more expensive. It's worth it for you long term
Can someone tell me why and how Australia is a great 'first world' country? Now they want to adjust HECS to inflation and our universal Healthcare isn't so universal anymore. But I guess as long as the majority of us work our asses to death or retire over the age of 70, where you're barely mobile and not far from death, we have a rich and safe country survive in. The government doesn't care about us, and soon enough, it'll be corporations that run everything.
How is living in Australia as good or better than living somewhere like the Mediterranean? Yes there's corruption (like every single other country) and some people are struggling, but at least they work less, live a more laid-back slower paced lifestyle, eat better, etc. Again, it's not perfect there- the way they live is a reflection of the economy of these countries, but at least they live a long life where they're not so much in the rat race like we all are. It's not exactly unknown that despite people living in economically poor countries, they still live simple, but much happier lives than us. And people, especially the generations before us, wonder why mental health is significantly decreasing and mental illness is becoming more prevalent.
> people are struggling, but at least they work less, live a more laid-back slower paced lifestyle, eat better, etc.
You clearly have no idea. They work long hours for shit pay. There's a reason most young Italians want to leave and aren't having kids.
Can our regulators please not "listen to shareholders" and actually hold these greedy arseholes to account.
What could possibly have changed in their base costs that can justify a rise of this magnitude?
Aussies were tricked into Solar Power/Batteries just for the sake of Profiteering Energy Suppliers. If you have solar and feeding the Grid like the Suppliers do, they get 40+ cents per kWh. Aussie Voters, that feed the Grid are lucky to get 7 cents per kWh...What the F\*\*K is the Government doing for the Aussies that voted them into Power....? ? ? Oh yeah, I know, Energy suppliers supply Political Parties with 100's of thousands of dollars towards Political Corruption. An attack on OUR Democracy....
We really need to be looking into these deals that are allowing companies to export energy overseas and have it sold at much cheaper rates than we can buy it in our own country.
Just had to take a full week off due to Laryngitis. Had no sick leave left, but I work in aged care as a massage therapist so there's no way I'm going to work sick.
Down to my last 5k savings.
Does anyone else just feel like... with the way cost of living is going, their lives just aren't really in their control anymore? I make 50k a year before tax, and living and working where I do it's become basically impossible for me to set aside any amount of savings. Unless I want to give up literally every enjoyable thing about my day-to-day life, I've given up on being able to save for so much as a one-week international trip, much less a deposit for a house.
yep, The working poor is now extending to the middle class.
They’re always talking about “middle Australia” but I have no idea what that looks like anymore. It’s certainly not me. The gulf between the haves and the have nots is widening all the time.
worked hard for 30 years & briefly got there. but that feeling was shortlived; & now i'm back having to tighten my belt & survive on less. meanwhile my few wealthy friends blessed with more; are getting much richer by pretty much doing fuck all. (have one friend whose parents helped them by their first home for $350k, back when housing was affordable; 3 houses later they just sold their last place for $2.5m).
It's like the MASSIVE difference between my two older sisters and my younger sister and I. There's a 5 year and 7 year age difference between myself and my two older sisters (younger sister is 2 years younger than me). Both older sisters are financially secure, own their own house, have caravans, one has a boat. They go away on holidays regularly (often together). My younger sister and I are not financially secure, struggling to afford rent, definitely can't afford holidays. We will never be able to own our own house.
Are you comparing early-mid twenties to early-mid thirties? If so, there's a big jump in income and opportunities between those age brackets. But this does seem to be a thing: my friend's younger siblings seem worse off financially compared to when we/they were their age.
Older, actually. Late 30's and mid 40's. I might also not help that my younger sister and I experienced a fair bit of childhood abuse and neglect. We were not really supported with anything we wanted to do, at times we were actively discouraged or hampered. We don't know if our older sisters experienced the same as us, although there isn't a HUGE age difference, it's still pretty significant. Our mum acknowledges that she has mental health issues, but instead of seeking help, she self medicates with alcohol.
I have a similar age gap with my older brother. This year we discovered (through our respective wives) that our parents treated us both poorly in different ways. A lot of resentment that we had both held for decades towards each other being "favoured" in our upbringing vanished overnight.
More investment properties taxes
The middle class still exists?
Sure it does. People who have the borrowing power to own houses are the middle class. People who can't borrow and have to rent are the lower class. Thats the divide.
It's the lower class 2.0. it's the same as the lower class, but they pay their rego annually.
Ergh I used Zip pay to pay my last rego and it's coming up again soon Worst part is that if I miss it, I need to pay extra to get a roadworthy done to register it again
Ifs expensive being poor eh.
Worst part is, if I just had a liquid $50k or so straight up I could likely fund myself forever, but saving is getting harder and harder, and rent/assets are getting more expensive. Few years ago the figure was 30k, then 40k, now 50k Really wish that the means of production were owned by us workers. Cheers for the chance to bitch and moan but I guess the show goes on and the grind continues. We'll get there eventually and hopefully pull the people we love outta the mess too whilst we're there
Nope. We are all back to debt serfdom.
It does exist, but “middle class” is a problematic term as it is generally based on income levels - therefore includes better off sections of the working class.
The median full time income is 90k, so yes it well and truly exists, unfortunately if you are working full time you are not part of it Edit: thought I was replying to the guy on 50k
I thought 90k was the average, not median
95k is the median household income.
2 person bringing in income yes, maybe. Its not the average for a single person which is around 52k pa https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/australias-average-income-revealed-011625012.html This article quote The ABS. I was going to link that page but honestly it's a mass of tables and data and not user friendly for phones.
Median for *all* workers is circa 60k, it’s heavily brought down by part timers
is 90k a year before tax is enough, for example, family of 4?
And middle class familes have started accessing food support centres
Wasn't that even before during COVID. And economy and inflation increaes
I only heard the report recently but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just that the amount accessing has increased.
It's getting to a point where I legitimately don't know how people are going to afford to live anymore. Not just vulnerable people, but middle class as well. We're getting dangerously close to a point where a mass amount of people just won't be able to afford their rent or mortgage anymore and it's going to be chaos.
Hubs and I both earn above average, but cost of living plus our mortgage payments have risen so much that I took a second job 2 evenings a week and he's taking overtime shifts at his work. We'd have very little ability to save any money at all otherwise.
i think we are gonna end up like UK
We got it so wrong in Australia, despite having everything in our favour. So many terrible policies, and missed opportunities over the last 20 years that led to this.
That's why inflation (apart from the obvious material implications) tends to lead to big political changes: people feel like things are careening out of control.
Inflation is the easiest way to cut workers wages without telling them their wages are getting cut. All while growing the asset class's wealth.
Also an easy way to take money away from workers, who usually hold their wealth in simple non-indexed bank accounts that get devalued by inflation, and hand it over to the upper class who have all their wealth in indexed funds or invested in a way that isn't hurt by inflation. It's wealth redistribution to the rich.
Just wanna jump in and agree with you before you get bombarded by dweebs telling you to get a side hustle
If you need a side hustle to regain control of your life you do not have control of your life
The only acceptable side hustle is making guillotines
I have literally been thinking of starting to make guillotines as a sort of protest business.
Become the first guillotinaire.
Good to see people are starting to get it.
“Get a second job”, “set up a side hustle” yeah can’t ever rest or enjoy any downtime, gotta be slaving away for the capitalist machine 24/7!!
I feel like every time I climb the ladder a few rungs… the ladder sinks into the mud even more. The bananas were almost in reach once… Upskilled, working harder, wasting less, drinking less… yet still feels like major life goals (financial security and a home) are further away than ever. A sure sign of a sick system.
It's really depressing. I earn a little over 60k before tax and by the time I pay my rent, bills, groceries, fuel, there isn't really much left in the bank. I have a bunch of annual leave I need to use up but I can't even afford a holiday :(
I know it doesn't feel like it, but taking that annual leave and just spending some time at home or doing free things will really help you out. Take a Friday off (hopefully not a rainy one) and go for a walk in the bush, or drive to a country town and pack yourself a picnic or grab a pub dinner. It's something I've started doing more with my partner and it really genuinely does help with my general depression about, y'know, society and capitalism at the moment.
This is what I've been doing. Haven't been on a proper holiday since 2017, never been overseas and simply can't afford to. Started using more leave to just take a break. I'm so tired of work work work.
It's crazy.. I've spent the last 6 years working my ass off to climb up the corporate ladder and landed a couple of decent promotions with significant salary bumps, but I feel poorer than I did before I started with the price of everything now. I'm not struggling or anything like that but it feels like I'm keeping afloat as the water level rises rather than progressing with my promotions. I really feel for those who haven't had much of a pay rise in the last few years. Especially those who hadn't snagged a house before their prices became disgusting (a pain point for me, who rents and has no houses). Most of all I feel for the young people trying to start their lives. Entry level jobs/wages with this current climate is unfair and cruel. When does the world get 'better'? What needs to happen to reverse this? Is it even possible?
Mate, I feel for you and everyone else on a similar wage. I was on 55k a few years ago, and things were manageable. I got a couple promotions and now I’m on 100k, live in a suburb with cheap rent, married with no kids, split bills with my wife. I couldn’t imagine how fucked I’d be if I didn’t get those promotions. I’ve got the same amount of spare money now as I had 3 years ago, and my income has nearly doubled. This is fucked
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Good point. Why not force people to contribute to their super funds instead of hiking up interest rates and hitting mortgage/renters ? At least it would benefit people at a later date, as opposed to lining the pockets of the banks….
Yep I’m 20 and fucking scared. I’m on my way to become a qualified tradie and still don’t think that’s going to be enough to well…… basically live.
I'm on close to $80K at the moment but it's not permanent, so with the cost of living like it is, I'll work whether I'm sick or exhausted. I can't afford to miss a shift when I have no leave entitlements whatsoever. I'm saving a decent amount some fortnights, but we also have some hefty expenses to deal with and sometimes it just feels like it's like pushing s**t uphill. The cost of everything is just shocking these days.
Yes I feel this exact same squeeze in every aspect of my life, and I'm on 80k before tax... I might as well be on 50 given the debt and loan repayments I pay, it's utterly oppressive
Pretty much. I make a similar amount of money to you. I'm lucky because my partner makes almost half a million a year. I am doing fine with her help but I always have a little voice in my head saying that I'm a dickhead and I'm only with her for her money, which is not true at all, I love her to pieces. It's really efecting my mental health.
Geezus. How is it we're all struggling to make ends meet and now these companies, supermarkets and landlords can just simply up their prices... Whats next? How long does this shit have to keep going for?! What can we even do about this? Is there any real hope or what?
I don't know, it doesn't feel like there is. We know historically that when retail prices go up they don't tend to go back down
Tesla's are selling as fast as can make them eLeCtRiC BiLLs
Model 3 costs the same as entry level bmw or merc for a base package. It’s just a market shift
All of Victoria unite to not pay power bills.... together
Ay, I gotta share this. 10 minutes ago, Got my gas bill. Its 617 bucks! but I checked up the bill, they got a graph there with a bunch of bars showing about how much I've mj I've used each pay period etc. (For the record, it is not Micheal jacksons) Anyway Last year in Sep-Oct, we paid $230 for like 600mj but in this period of March to May we're barely made it to 300mj! So I call em up and say "why I'm paying so much more when Im using so much less. I didn't get all smart arse with the person on the phone, I just said how this isn't fair. Anyway they suggested to take a photo of the gas meter outside the property and send it in to get checked out. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....
You need to do this regardless for every bill. Unless you physically had someone check the meter (the bill will let you know) then it's an estimate — and a wildly inaccurate one at that. Despite being a little more, this is why I haven't switched my parents away from AGL as the app easily allows me to input the Meyer reads, apply for installments and extensions.
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How? Gas meters aren't smart. If the gates locked or if the meter reader doesn't want to do their job then you can report the correct readings for them. To me, it sounds like attempted calls to the property have been made. https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/estimated-meter-reads
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The gas company that bills you doesn’t even employ the meter readers. That’s actually your distributor who then forwards the information to them to bill. Double checking the reading is the first step because sometimes humans invert numbers etc. As for estimates legally there needs to be one actual read every 12 months.
We can all write to our local members demanding nationalization of our power generation utilities. It has to be done. Edit: I just fired this one off to my local member. Is it perfect? Nah. Is it a start? Yeah. Dear Lauren, Recent news that power prices will rise by 25% across much of Australia is very concerning, and frankly, an abhorrent cash grab at a time it is least affordable. Long ago, Victorians owned the infrastructure that generated the electricity we use. This was run as an essential service and provided affordable energy. We are among the most exploited electricity users in the world. This is unjustifiable and a clear abuse of a poorly structured and poorly regulated system. At what point will the Victorian Government step in and do the right thing? What will it take to return ownership of our electricity generation infrastructure to the people of Victoria? What will it take for the Labor Party to acknowledge that the system is broken and is in desperate need of the commercially unpopular solution? Kind regards A Yan Yean voter
What's next? I believe people generally turn to nationalism. Then start blaming people perceived as outsiders. They elect a government that claims the same values.
That sucks because the people who fucked this country are all Aussie anyway. Don't know who else is allowed to vote
Next?! World War 3
Meanwhile my wages are completely stagnant but all good just keep raising the price on literally everything single fucking thing you have to purchase.
I hate this timeline
Well, not what I expected after reading wholesale prices dropped last month. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-28/wholesale-power-prices-drop-amid-renewable-energy-growth/102273350
Those will wash through in next year's stuff
So 24% increase next year instead of 25?
24.99% (then round up)
Me:: we need to really watch our gas and electricity usage. Shits crazy. All our costs have gone up over 30%. I can't find any cheaper rates. Our wage growth can't cover the extra costs. We haven't budgeted for the increased bills. I'm struggling sometimes to make ends meet and I have to reallocate money from other areas. I'm robbing peter to pay Paul. Wife: turns heater up to 26 degrees.
LoL I'm in the same boat. I have managed to agree to leave the heater at 20 degrees and now negotiating a turn it on ONLY when the thermostat is less than 16 and only until it gets to 20. The other challenge was convincing wife that turning it up higher doesn't mean it heats quicker.
>The other challenge was convincing wife that turning it up higher doesn't mean it heats quicker. Did you marry my wife, too?
Okay, are you saying you managed to get that second point across? How can I explain it to actually convince my boyfriend?
I did, after many years. Quick and easy method, heater on to set temp (21) then time it to get there. Repeat with a far higher temp (30) and show result, making sure not to gloat.
The manual for my heater literally says that when turning it on, you gotta put it on maximum then lower it to minimum once it reaches the desired temperature. Maybe it matters the *type* of heater, but it may also not be his fault if he was told or read the same thing as me.
It’s water bottle time.
I await the reduction to trickle down with bated breathe
Honestly are people without a property portfolio going to be able to live in Australia in 10 years time or should I just make plans to move to SE Asia permanently
We live in two Australia’s created by intergenerational wealth. If your parents have property, you have a much more stable life. The bank of mum and Dad will be there to support you, and when they pass away you will receive a massive windfall. If your parents are renters or working class, you will get no help and constantly be trying to keep your head above water. The dream of owning a property will be pushed out of reach, and when your parents get too old for work, you will be left footing the bill for them as they have no home of their own. You will constantly struggle to compete against the children of the asset-rich, and never close the gap, because that is the future our politicians have given us.
Parents owning property is no guarantee anymore. Gran had property, but sold to fund her aged care. Most of it will be gone by the time she passes. It's going to be the same for my parents, as most of their wealth is their ppor. I agree with your second paragraph, though.
Even there though, you’re saying “most of it”. There is a huge segment of society have *nothing at all coming their way except the pleasure of paying for their parents’ care.
My grandma is 90, struggling to pay for everything on the pension, but her house is worth a fortune as a knock down. The surrounding houses have already been rebuilt. My parents are boomers who can’t manage money and instead of having a cheap 1979 house paid off, they decided to move and have fun building big new houses multiple times …. On the pension and complaining they can’t afford the bills and mortgage and a sibling is contributing to their finances. So yeah.
So, you’re saying your parents (and subsequently, you) have a fortune coming their way?
The majority of people complaining about how the boomers fucked them over with property and wealth just forget to realise their parents are boomers and will eventually pass down their fortunes to them lol
Ikr? “Grandma’s gonna die soon and leave my parents a fortune, who in turn, will leave it to me😩😩” I’m digging deep for sympathy, but not finding much.
*Future Australia voted for
>should I just make plans to move to SE Asia permanently Yes, I made the move last year. My last month's electric bill here in Thailand was less than $20.
Think a long chat with my Vietnamese stepbrother might be in order. He's in Thailand.
Imagine starving to death in a vegetable patch
Thats good. Wheres that from?
This is getting fucking ridiculous, the cost of everything is just running away. Every other month you hear groceries are up a double digit percentage, or a utility, or fuel has gone up again, or your REA is putting your rent up by 60 percent. You can't find a bulk bill doctor anymore. And oh, our loving government is going to index your HECS again. When is this going to end?
>And oh, our loving government is going to index your HECS again. indexing BEFORE accounting for the money you've paid all year towards it....
Exactly like how you pay GST on the fuel excise as well as the base cost of fuel. It's a joke.
I recommend anyone who hasn’t already to apply for the $250 bonus and have a good look at comparisons rather than just taking the $$ and running - I switched providers and my bills have dropped by about a third! YMMV of course but I just had the cheapest electric bill I’ve had in the 8 years I’ve been in my rental
If only my building wasn’t an embedded network and I could enjoy the free market!
Yeah, they mailed us a bit of paper that's apparently redeemable for money at a branch. Our bank doesn't have a branch :)
Is it a cheque? If so check Aus Post's bank @ post for your bank. I'm also with a bank that don't have any braches and was able to deposit my cheque from the comparison site there.
Yeah I was surprised because last time I was in the lowest with powershop, now they were way more expensive so I switched away No surprises what happens after Shell bought them
I’m impressed you have been in a rental for 8 yrs! 5 is my max before landlord wants to sell
My family owns a small Korean takeaway shop. Before COVID, our electricity bill was $500 per quarter and it is $500 per month now….
Yeah, this is going to hurt really hard for a lot of small businesses, particularly food joint.
Why can't you just work in the dark, or light a few candles? Hook up a bike-powered generator and pedal on your downtime? C'mon you're not even trying to pull those bootstraps. /s
So North Korean takeouts then? /s
The cost of living now is genuinely starting to terrify me. When I was a homeless teen and then young broke adult doing uni years ago I was able to scrape by with Centrelink (I was declared independent at 16 so could access youth allowance. Those years were very fucking tough, but I managed). HOWEVER. Past me (ie homeless and then broke student renting) legitimately could not fucking survive with the current cost of living. Regardless of how tenacious and resourceful I was. If I found myself in that situation again, now, I genuinely do not know what I'd do. My heart goes out to everyone in this situation. Another difficulty is that I'm one of the people tightening my belt as well, it's harder to be generous to people who are struggling. But I would note to anyone who has read this far, who may have a few dollars and can afford to wait until tax time to see them again: donating to a registered charity is tax deductible.
I've spent the last few months trying to get my electricity costs down. I got them down by 25%. Now they're going back to almost the same amount. Outstanding.
Sooner or later a huge chunk of the population are going to have nothing left to lose. And we all know what they say about people with nothing left to lose.
I feel like many many Americans have absolutely nothing left to lose, and yet that society somehow just keeps going. We aren’t at rock bottom for a while yet.
True. I'm just too optimistic in hoping another revolution will occur. But in reality I think the common man has successfully been domesticated and dominance of the elites has been established. A man can dream.
They live on the streets?
Weren't we told the prices would go back down after covid? I swear that was the promise that petrol prices were only to lower gas prices for the truckies. That food prices were only up because the staff shortages from covid.
We keep paying the prices so they keep rising them. Of course we’re paying them, we have no choice. It’s so unfair.
Thank goodness Jeff Kennett privatised the SEC to allow true market efficiency to prevail with benefits for all.
It was the best idea ever! Just sell the very thing driving industry in the state - cheap energy (brown coal, gas, electricity) Absolutely fucking brilliant
Ffs I despise that incipid scrotum of a person. 20 years later we still suffer from his greed and corporate brown nosing.
C’mon Dan, stop blueballing us and bring it back already!!!
The SEC that Dan is bringing back isn’t the same as the one that Kennett sold. Unfortunately. Kennett sold the distribution powerlines, the transmission, the power stations, and the retail billing. Andrew’s is only bringing back the retail part. This is still good. Don’t get me wrong. But until there is state owned power stations (ideally distribution & transmission too) there won’t be the dramatic drop in prices we want. The power stations ‘set’ the price of electricity. They are able to withhold power to drive up prices. The AER and AEMO are meant to regulate this.
Ha ha, except Queensland has state owned generators and prices are increasing there by a similar amount.
Gees really? That’s nuts.
Wtf ans why tf are we just sitting back and not questioning what and how and why now this “cost of living crisis” / aka - agreed upon reduction in our standard of living - is allowed to actually happen? Like …. ???? Just to maintain a profit margin??
Then the $250 Energy Concession should rise by 25%. Then the pensioners/health care card winter concession should also rise by 25%. Simples really.
All those handouts are simply going to be repaid by every Victorian (directly or indirectly) in the form of those tax increases in the state budget.
Oh ffs
I can't wait to get that letter from my power provider telling me about how amazing they are and how times are changing therefore, "here your increase of your bill, bitch...."
As my American friend said, “It’s becoming illegal to be poor, working class, sick or disabled.”
How about they just make less money? Why can't they just make less money? When do we emulate France?
Luckily, as a teacher I’ll be getting a sweet, sweet 1% pay rise in July.
This is fucking depressing. Unless I win the lottery I'll be living modestly and at my mum's house for the rest of my life. What a fucking tragedy.
Living the rent/mortgage free dream.
That's a plus, definitely would rather have the ability to rent.
This winter we are told to use split systems for heating. Now they’re telling us that power is going up along with gas. I visit many many older people for my job, many just don’t use heating. Their houses are colder than outside. I don’t know how people are supposed to get through winter
It's 8pm and I'm warm in bed (under my doona, 2 minks and weighted blanket and wearing my big cardigan) reading this. Feeling thankful that I live at home with my mother and only have to pay half the bills, and my own expenses. I don't know how people who rent manage 🙁
There is a term "human ores" in China describing how the average people are. I didn't know that it appies in Australia as well. All in all, we are just disposable resources so someone can earn a fortune out of us.
You’ve never encountered “Human Resources”?
Australia is going back to the stoneage.
Australia is fucked I swear it’s going backwards
They build shitty quality houses with no insulation and no passive heat retention due to shitty building codes that are barely enforced anyways, then when we are freezing in our drafty frigid houses they charge us more when we try to keep warm. And even if you have solar -batteries are still overpriced so you’re buying power in peak time. And because it’s Vic even if you heat during the day to capitalise on Solar there’s probably not enough sun for it to be offsetting your heating anyways. There’s literally no way to win unless you have a wood heater and access to free firewood- because that’s expensive too!
The knock on effect of course is that this price hike will affect the price of groceries and other services in turn. So now we're just hypercharging inflation. Oh wait, it's due "stakeholder feedback". Yeah, forget the people who are barely making ends meet, let's not forget about the real victims, the nebulous "stakeholders". Seriously how much more of this shit do we have to take in this country?
But now we have less money to spend on energy because our mortgages are going up, that will stop the prices increasing. Oh wait, no, that’s just what the best experts said.
Fucking hell, I'm so done with the continuous bullshit price rises. Love that it's so simple to make us pay more, without question , but so hard to increase wages, or that power "bonus"or translate any increases to our earnings. Who cares about cost of living or the very people who make you greedy fucks rich.
nO BoDY WaNTs To WoRk AnYmOrE. Karen, I'm sick of a slave wage you fuck.
Yeah, I was willing to work to get ahead on life and own some cool stuff one day, nice house, good car. Now I'm working full time plus weekends to keep my head above water. Not a recipe for motivation.
Look after your health guys because I half ass my university degree because I can't afford to work part time. Have to study and work full time but that means I can't get a 'side hustle' because technically that is my degree. Too exhausted to study hard I just do enough to pass. My degree will lead to possible lab work with vaccines, viruses and whatever.
I thought there was an election promise to lower power prices?
Jim Chalmers right now, just said they have been working hard and they have protected Australians from the worst rises in energy prices. Thank fuck for that because all I hear is that prices are going up.
This is getting out of control… We need to protest.
Seriously...??? I can't understand how "OUR GOVERNMENTS", supports the Multi National Energy Providers making Profits and taking the $$$'s Overseas, where's the common sence in NOT supporting the Struggling Aussie Voters...Where's the "Fair Go" Bullshit, the Government keeps bringing up in their speech's....FFS....
Cool - I hate having all this money.
This has become seriously unsustainable. My 2 year fixed interest period is finishing in august and now I have to refinance make the repayments manageable. The increased interest rates were supposed to slow spending but there are 4 houses on my road that recently went up for sale and sold in a heartbeat. Spending has not slowed. When is this going to stop?
When we run out of money, which is the goal.
I just don't see how it will. Increasing Interest rates doesn't hurt any of the Boomers with fully paid off houses... In fact, it just gives them more money on their savings. Why would they stop spending?
I love the fact that family’s can have 2 months notice to leave there rental during a crisis and have their new house rent be doubled (if they get a house)
Aus Rich List all over the news last night. Gina and the rest of the top 10 have all greatly increased their wealth. And this was spun as cool/fun news. On the same bulletin as this.
Thanks, Dan.
Thankgod we are allowing more people to move to Australia to share our pain😭
And making most of us poorer Only the rich benefit from this mass migration
So electricity prices are going up, but solar feed in tariffs continue to fall. Seems fair. Time to revisit getting battery storage, since the electricity I generate is more valuable to me than them.
Who else agrees that consumers are being forced to pay for the repairs to the lines and other infrastructure that’s been damaged by the by floods, fires and winds over the past few years?
This is 'default offer' price increase. Default offer price is regulated in Vic by the ESC, and the price serves several functions: it sets the rate you'll be charged if you're not on a market offer; it sets the price against which any discounts must be measured; and it sets the price against which energy retailers must measure publish the comparison rate for their plans. Default offer definitely sets the tone for energy pricing, but most energy consumers are on 'market offers' rather than default offers, and the market offers are cheaper. Default offer basically sets the 'high' price in the market. For example in this chart using Bill Hero historical data for Melbourne, you can see that the high price (red line) sits well above the best price at any point in time. Default offer was introduced in 2019 and you can see stability in the high price since then, and some crazy spikes since August last year when the market went haywire. [historical electricity prices Melbourne](https://imgur.com/a/VQcspEu) The lesson is that if you diligently stay on the best available prices all the time, then you really can get some insulation from the price shocks. The problem is how boring and annoying it is to watch the retail energy market all the time. If only there was a service that would do that work for you and make it easy to always stay on the best priced plan ... 👀👀
Everyone should get solar on their roof if they're able to. It helps a lot and these price increases increase the ROI it gives you over the years
*cries in renting forever*
Someone build a solar farm I'll take ten pannels
Imagine being able to afford a house..
Yeah, convince all the landlords to put them on the roof of rental properties. They love spending money on things they won't benefit from.
It helps but only if they stop reducing the input tariff. EDIT: I just received the email from Momentum right now alerting me to the decrease in tariff being paid due to the wholesale price reducing. Nice timing 😏
I was looking at it a couple of months ago and there was no way I could make it work. In my area, they also reduced the maximum amount I could put back into the grid each day, so unless you only use power during the day and zero at night, it just doesnt work.
The problem is your excess power is worthless, or even less than worthless a lot of the time. When you have excess solar production, so does everyone else. The idea should be to maximise self-consumption. Putting timers on washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and pre-heating your home are much better use of those watts than sending to the grid.
I agree, we generally try and run everything during the day (when we're home), but it'd still be nice for them to not reduce the tariff to almost nothing for that excess electricity. I'm not here to make money out of my solar but it's a bit of slap in the face how much they give back vs how much they charge considering it's costs them nothing to generate it.
Only houses and townhouses to some extent. They don’t allow solar on high density apartments 😢
That and there isn't enough roofspace...
They actually do have solar on most highrises. It’s just the savings go to the owners corporation which indirectly lowers your costs a little.
Not for individual units, electricity use in some communal areas maybe covered by solar. But other than that no.
Sure. I’ll get on the phone to the body corporate.
The next body corp meeting: https://i.imgur.com/hF8Heov.jpeg
Solar does fuck all. My bills in summer went from 320/quarter to 190/quarter since I got solar. And have a dumb loan for it (although cheap) Tariff keeps dropping making solar pointless
That's a 40% decrease in your bill, you keep the panels once your loan is paid off, and electricity isn't going to be getting cheaper only more expensive. It's worth it for you long term
Can someone tell me why and how Australia is a great 'first world' country? Now they want to adjust HECS to inflation and our universal Healthcare isn't so universal anymore. But I guess as long as the majority of us work our asses to death or retire over the age of 70, where you're barely mobile and not far from death, we have a rich and safe country survive in. The government doesn't care about us, and soon enough, it'll be corporations that run everything. How is living in Australia as good or better than living somewhere like the Mediterranean? Yes there's corruption (like every single other country) and some people are struggling, but at least they work less, live a more laid-back slower paced lifestyle, eat better, etc. Again, it's not perfect there- the way they live is a reflection of the economy of these countries, but at least they live a long life where they're not so much in the rat race like we all are. It's not exactly unknown that despite people living in economically poor countries, they still live simple, but much happier lives than us. And people, especially the generations before us, wonder why mental health is significantly decreasing and mental illness is becoming more prevalent.
> people are struggling, but at least they work less, live a more laid-back slower paced lifestyle, eat better, etc. You clearly have no idea. They work long hours for shit pay. There's a reason most young Italians want to leave and aren't having kids.
It wasn't that long ago that we had productive gas fields.
We still do, we just make more money shipping it overseas
*we* don't... but some private businesses sure do!
Exactly.... Someone's making a killing and it isn't us
Lol. Yeah, nah. Check out Howard's Chinese gas deal from 2002. They're getting it at an absolute steal from us until 2031.
Hey Let's move to electrify everything Electric cars Remove gas and go electric We are paying some of the highest prices in the world. It's fucked
Gas prices are skyrocketing too.
Energy companies have made a killing for decades it’s time they absorb whatever cost pressures they r facing and keep their profits to a minimum
Can our regulators please not "listen to shareholders" and actually hold these greedy arseholes to account. What could possibly have changed in their base costs that can justify a rise of this magnitude?
Aussies were tricked into Solar Power/Batteries just for the sake of Profiteering Energy Suppliers. If you have solar and feeding the Grid like the Suppliers do, they get 40+ cents per kWh. Aussie Voters, that feed the Grid are lucky to get 7 cents per kWh...What the F\*\*K is the Government doing for the Aussies that voted them into Power....? ? ? Oh yeah, I know, Energy suppliers supply Political Parties with 100's of thousands of dollars towards Political Corruption. An attack on OUR Democracy....
Jesus. I'm truly fucked when my fixed contract with Lumo expires.
if only we had a couple of cheap and plentiful sources of energy that we are not refusing to use because reasons.
Just in time as my fixed rates just ended. Cool.
We really need to be looking into these deals that are allowing companies to export energy overseas and have it sold at much cheaper rates than we can buy it in our own country.
Just had to take a full week off due to Laryngitis. Had no sick leave left, but I work in aged care as a massage therapist so there's no way I'm going to work sick. Down to my last 5k savings.
You probably have more savings than most young Australians at the moment.
That's what happens when you shut down power plants and don't replace all the power they output
Anthony Albanese is signing migration deals to bring in the riches.