In a bid to alleviate the rising cost of living for Australian households, a $300 power bill relief was introduced for the 2024/25 financial year. This initiative aimed to ease the financial burden faced by many families.

Additionally, from July, an extra $150 subsidy was offered to further assist Australians. However, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced today that this subsidy will conclude on December 31, 2025, with no plans for extension.

Chalmers admitted that ending the relief was a challenging decision for the government.

He explained that the move aligns with a broader strategy to implement more “permanent” cost of living solutions.

“This was a tough decision made by the cabinet, but we believe it’s the correct one,” Chalmers stated during the mid-year budget update.

He emphasized that the decision takes into account budgetary constraints while acknowledging that there are various methods to continue providing the necessary financial relief to households.

The treasurer said the government has forked out nearly $6 billion on the three rounds of energy bill rebates.

But he said it was not doing enough to justify the budget blow-out.

Chalmers also pointed out that he has been transparent over the temporary nature of the rebates.

“We’ve been up-front with people and said that these were never going to be a permanent feature of the budget,” he added.

“People will still be receiving very considerable cost of living help, but it will be permanent and ongoing, through the tax system and Medicare system and on the PBS.”

He reminded taxpayers that there are several tax cuts already baked into the federal tax cut.

The rebates were introduced in the 2024 federal budget, providing all households with $300 off their bills over the course of a year at a cost of $3.5 billion.

Chalmers then found an extra $1.8 billion to extend the measure in this year’s budget for another two quarters – or $150 per household – taking the total spend to more than $5 billion.

Chalmers did warn, however, that regardless of the decision made today, the rebates would eventually come to an end.