Court action over Qld electricity prices

A class action has been filed against two Queensland state-owned electricity generators alleging they manipulated prices and artificially inflated bills.

The legal claim on behalf of more than 40,000 electricity customers was filed in the Federal Court on Wednesday.

The action against Stanwell and CS Energy is on behalf of people who paid for electricity in Queensland any time between January 20, 2015 and January 20, 2021.

"The facts indicate, and we will seek to prove, that the defendants manipulated the wholesale cost of electricity for their own profit," Greg Whyte of Piper Alderman, the law firm filing the action, said.

"The unlawful conduct occurred at the generation stage, and your retailer simply passed that cost through to consumers."

Mr Whyte said most of those registered to be part of the action are residential customers, but there are also more than 1600 businesses involved.