Electricity in Queensland

Demand for electricity

Between 1999-2000 and 2007-08, annual electricity consumption in Queensland has grown by over 29 percent or approximately 10,500 gigawatt hours (GWh) making Queensland the second highest consumer of electricity in Australia. Queensland's record electricity demand of 8699 MW was reached in February 2009.

Demand in south-east Queensland now is more than for the entire state of South Australia. This demand growth is expected to continue with an estimated one million people anticipated to make Queensland's south-east corner their home over the next 20 years.

Regional energy intensity

Queensland has a significantly greater number of high energy users than any other state with most of these in regional Queensland.

These customers are predominately from the resources sector which includes coal and other mines, mineral processors such as smelters, crushers and refineries, and gas and chemical manufacturers. Other major users include export infrastructure such as ports and rail.

Electricity industry structure

The electricity industry is comprised of three distinct, yet interconnected sectors associated with the production and physical delivery of electricity to homes and businesses - electricity generation, transmission and distribution.  The fourth sector of the electricity industry is retail, which is the sale of electricity to customers.

The Queensland Government owns significant electricity assets worth approximately $8 billion in generation, more than $3.9 billion in transmission and more than $13 billion in distribution.

In addition the Government is committing significant capital investment to Powerlink's transmission infrastructure and ENERGEX's and Ergon Energy's distribution networks over the next five years.

Improved customer service and reliability

The Queensland Government is committed to improving customer service and reliability of supply for electricity consumers. The new Electricity Industry Code introduces guaranteed levels of service and performance requirements for Queensland's electricity distributors, ENERGEX and Ergon Energy.