00:00This cost of living index comes out every single year, every year around this time.
00:06And this year we found that a person on the minimum wage has got just $33 left after they
00:10pay for essentials, weekly essentials, like rent, groceries and transport.
00:16And if you're a single parent, it's just $1 left.
00:19If you're a family of four raising two kids and you've got two parents who are working
00:23full time, you've got just $5 left.
00:25So we took a look at this and figures have recently came out that showed that 330,000
00:32Australians have got energy debts and that number is going up.
00:36The number of people with debts over $3,000 is going up.
00:39And we took a look at these two numbers and said, well, I guess that's what happens when
00:43nobody's got any money left for their quarterly bills and other expenses.
00:46So people are asked to contact energy providers if they are having trouble paying their bill.
00:52Is that helpful?
00:53Does that work?
00:54Well, that's where these numbers come from.
00:56The Australian energy regulator reports on how many people have debts with their providers
01:00and are on payment plans.
01:02The problem is that people's bills are exceeding the amounts that they can repay on their payment
01:08plan.
01:09So that means that the debts just keep getting bigger and bigger and people have got no way
01:12out of them.
01:13At a time when energy retailers are making record profits and when it's actually getting cheaper
01:17for them to distribute electricity because of renewable energy, we think that there should be some
01:22regulations so that this price gouging ends.
01:25But we're also calling for some forgiveness for these energy debts so that people can make
01:28a fresh start.
01:29So you want the energy companies to write off the amount that they're owed from people?
01:37You know, interestingly, in their annual reports, they actually say they don't expect a lot
01:41of these debts to ever be fully paid off.
01:43We'd love to see them write them off.
01:46And we'd also love to see some support from the government.
01:48What they've done in the past couple of years is actually, for political reasons, I guess,
01:53give energy relief to a whole lot of people who don't want, need it or even notice it.
01:57And that money would be better spent on people who need it the most.
02:00Are people getting cut off because they can't pay their energy bills, May?
02:05If you're really, really behind on your payment plan and you're really not able to make those
02:10repayments, you can get cut off.
02:12But what we're seeing is that people are just sort of at the moment trapped with these huge
02:17debts.
02:18They're just sort of scraping by, making minimum repayments while their debts grow.
02:22Certainly more people could be cut off in the future.
02:24Okay.
02:25All households, though, have already received $300 in energy relief, another $150 is due
02:31next month.
02:32That must help, mustn't it?
02:35It does help.
02:36The problem is that it seems to just have the effect of prompting the retailers to increase
02:40what they're charging, which is a huge problem and why we need to see the government step up
02:44and do a bit more regulation.
02:46So you are calling for energy debts relief.
02:48Who would qualify for that?
02:50Would it be people whose debts are over a certain level?
02:53Yeah, people who have debts over $3,000 and also that group of people whose energy bills
03:00are higher than what their repayments are on their plans because that's just going to
03:05lead them into a debt spiral.
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