First cost-of-living decrease in four years for pensioners

Happy pensioners. | Newsreel
Pensioners enjoyed cost-of-living relief last quarter. | Photo: FG Trade Latin (iStock)

Cheaper electricity has led to the first cost-of-living fall for Australian pensioners in more than four years.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, released today, shows living costs for Age pensioner and Pensioner and beneficiary (PBLCI) households fell 0.1 percent in the December 2024 quarter.

ABS Head of Price Statistics Michelle Marquardt said it was the first fall in quarterly living costs since the June 2020 quarter for households whose main source of income was Government payments.

“Lower prices for electricity due to the 2024-25 Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief fund rebates impacted living costs this quarter,” Ms Marquardt said.

“These lower electricity prices largely offset rises in other areas of living costs.”

She said living costs were also impacted by an increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) this quarter, especially for Age pensioner and Pensioner and beneficiary households.

“The increase in CRA reduced the amount of rent payable by eligible households. From 20 September 2024, the maximum rate for CRA increased by 10 percent in addition to the usual biannual CPI indexation each year.”

Ms Marquardt said Government payment recipient households also experienced falls in Health costs due to an increase in the proportion of these households reaching the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) safety net threshold this quarter, reducing their out-of-pocket expenses.

She said employee households saw the largest rise in living costs across the household types this quarter, up 0.4 percent.

“While the growth in Employee households’ living costs has also slowed this quarter, these households continued to see higher rises than others as they are more impacted by mortgage interest charges.”