It not the wind, it's the gas. Why power prices are going berserk

Prepare for a shock. On July 1 electricity prices jumped 15 to 20 per cent in NSW, 16 to 20 per cent in South Australia, 19 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory and 11 per cent in Western Australia.

All this, three years to the day since the Coalition axed the carbon tax.

Victoria gets six months' grace, with increases of about the same size due in January.

And those are just the retail prices. Wholesale prices and those charged to businesses that buy directly are up an extraordinary 60 to 70 per cent. It's renewables that are doing it, along with the closure of Victoria's giant Hazelwood coal-fired power generator, according to Tony Abbott.

Read Peter Martin’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “It not the wind, it's the gas. Why power prices are going berserk.”