Rising living costs weigh on West Aussies minds as power bills set to increase

Cost-of-living pressures are still keeping West Aussies up at night, with a new survey revealing households are set to further tighten their belts to make ends meet. The CCIWA Consumer Confidence survey of 900 West Australians, conducted last month, reveals concern about rising living expenses has reached a nine-month high, with more than seven in 10 West Australians reporting living increases were shattering their confidence. People are vowing to further cut back on coffees, restaurants, holidays and groceries — despite two mortgage interest rate cuts this year. And the situation is about to get worse for struggling West Australians, with Thursday’s State Budget understood to contain 2.5 per cent increases to power and water prices. As previously reported by The Sunday Times, it’s also understood there will be no power bill rebate from the State Government, leaving WA households to rely on $150 help from Anthony Albanese later this year. “Despite inflation having fallen back within the RBA’s target band, the high-cost environment continues to weigh on household budgets,” the CCIWA report says. The Cook Government is under intense pressure to provide substantial cost-of-living relief in the Budget, with welfare and business groups telling The Sunday Times more needed to be done to address rising living expenses — and housing affordability. “Given the financial pressure that families are under, a freeze on government fees and charges would be really valuable,” Anglicare WA head Mark Glasson said. “We know that electricity charges are causing anxiety in families, and so it’s really important that while we’re in a strong financial position that we pay a dividend by freezing fees and charges at the current levels.” Treasurer Rita Saffioti would not be drawn on what the Government was doing. But she said she was acutely aware that households were doing it tough — promising to keep any power and water bill rises to below Perth’s CPI of 2.8 per cent. “We made a made a commitment at the election ... and that’s what we are doing,” Ms Saffioti said. “We have got targeted support for families (in the Budget), but it’s always a balance. “As Treasurer, you always want to do more, but you also have an obligation to manage the finances for the future. “That obligation sits heavy on me. “You don’t want to create problems into the future.” The CCIWA survey spells bad news for restaurants, pubs and clubs. “At least half of respondents indicated they were likely to cut back their spending on cafes and restaurants (53 per cent), consumer goods (51 per cent) and bars, pubs and clubs (50 per cent),” the report says. “Other categories consumers plan to reduce their spending are recreation and holidays (45 per cent), homewares and furniture (45 per cent) and groceries (36 per cent).” Renters are most likely to have to cut back on spending. “More than three in five (62 per cent) households that rent plan to limit their spending on cafes and restaurants, while a similar proportion (59 per cent) plan to cut back on consumer goods,” the report says. But West Aussies have their fingers crossed things will get better over the course of the next year. The consumer confidence survey found two in five people surveyed expected economic conditions to improve in the next 12 months. CCIWA chief economist Aaron Morey said two interest rate cuts this year were having a positive impact on consumer confidence overall, despite the fact that living expenses remained high. “Even though households still feel they’re paying more for everyday items, they’ve been buoyed by the extra money in their bank accounts from reduced interest rates,” he said.