Energy costs to fall; US-Iran peace deal teeters; weight-loss drug breakthrough
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Welcome to Fear and Greed, business news you can use. Today, cheaper electricity for consumers and small businesses is on the way as renewables pick up the load. The US strikes Iran as a peace deal teeters and the latest weight loss drugs are showing remarkably positive results. Plus, about three quarters of businesses report being affected by higher fuel prices. And property leader Goodman Group pushes hard into data centres. It is Wednesday, the 27th of May, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson, and good morning, Sean Aylmer. Good morning, Michael. Sean, the main story this morning, perhaps a little bit of good news here, electricity prices.
What are the upcoming changes to electricity prices in Australia?
should fall for most households and small businesses from 1 July after record output from wind farms and batteries contributed to pushing down the cost of generating electricity. Now, the Australian Energy Regulator lowered the default market offer price by up to 11% across New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Victoria's default offer has also been lowered by an average 5%. It's now really up to the retailers of electricity to actually pass through the lower offers to consumers.
And there's plenty of competition, so that should happen. It comes after the share of renewable energy in the national electricity market. passed 50% for a period late last year for the first time ever. We reported on it back then. The biggest consumer savings come in southeast Queensland for homes with smart meters, but broadly there are falls right down the east coast and into South Australia. Small businesses will experience even bigger reductions, and depending on the specific offer, prices in New South Wales could be 21% lower. That is a big saving if you're a small business. It's certainly good news for consumers and businesses struggling with a cost of living crisis and reflects favourable weather conditions plus the rapid growth of batteries.
Basically, a lot of wind and batteries.
That is good news. And adding to that good news, Sean, is that the regulator earlier in the year ruled that retailers must offer a solar sharer product. customers. And effectively, it gives households access to free power for three hours in the middle of the day, even if they don't have rooftop solar. Now, the government was pushing the lower prices yesterday with Energy Minister Chris Bowen saying government's rollout of more renewables and storage was reducing reliance on unreliable coal.
Yeah, I mean, that's true. I'm not sure that coal's unreliable. Anyway, when I looked, Michael, yesterday, it was about 12 o'clock yesterday, fossil fuels were powering around two-thirds of the national electricity market, with solar and wind making up 28%. That's actually a relatively large load for fossil fuels. So we still have a long way to go before we can consistently say renewables are generating 50% or more electricity. It's really cool. You can just go to the website and it shows you in that last five minute period, the national electricity market, how much has been made up of coal and gas, wind, solar, hydro, stuff like that. It's very cool. There's also, of course, solar panels on homes which contribute to the energy supply.
If it shifts directly from the roof to your TV, it doesn't go into the national electricity market. So some people might say these numbers actually seem a bit low compared to what we're talking about, the 50% level. That's mostly because solar panels that go straight into your house aren't included in it. Now, pricing is dynamic. Increases, decreases on demand when I was looking at yesterday at lunchtime. So let's leave Tasmania out of it because it's got interconnection and condition issues. But New South Wales, Queensland, most expensive. Victoria, South Australia, cheapest. Very cool thing to do, actually.
Yeah, it actually is. Also a very nerdy thing to spend your lunchtime poking around on the national- I had banana sandwiches, to be honest.
Banana sandwiches looking at the energy market regulator. That's not nerdish, Michael.
Did you say banana sandwiches?
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