The Wire

Electricity bills are set to keep getting bigger – the cost of power in this country is being tipped to rise by 50% in the next two decades. Lower income households already spend as amuch as 15% of their income on power and yet at the other end of the income scale, where more power is used, the proportion of income is as low as 1%. Mark Henley is the manager of advocacy and communications at welfare group Uniting Care Wesley . He is currently negotiating with industry and government to make sure the needs of the poor are looked after when prices become too high. he says what is needed is a threshhiold system like that of the taxation system.