An abundance of renewable energy supply led to an almost 10 percent drop in turnover for electricity supply businesses in October.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed business turnover for the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industry fell 10.3 percent in the month.
ABS Head of Business Statistics Rober Ewing said the fall was driven by weaker turnover from businesses in the Electricity and Gas supply subdivisions.
He said despite the fall, turnover was still higher than this time last year, with turnover up 7.3 percent compared to October 2023.
“Turnover for businesses in the Electricity Supply subdivision fell 9.9 percent, as lower average prices coincided with abundant renewable energy supply.
“We saw other notable industry falls in Transport, postal and warehousing, which was down 3.1 percent, Information media and telecommunications, down 2.8 percent, and Mining, down 1.8 percent.”
Mr Ewing said falls in these industries were partially offset by rises in five of the 13 industries.
“The largest rises were in Arts and recreation services, up 2.4 percent, and Accommodation and food services, up 2.2 percent.”
He said the 13-industry aggregate showed business turnover falling 0.6 percent in seasonally adjusted terms and 0.1 percent in trend terms.
“Compared to October 2023, turnover was higher for 10 of the 13 industries included in the indicator.
“The industries that saw the biggest annual rises were Arts and recreation services (+10.3 percent) and Construction (+8.1 percent). Mining had the largest annual fall (-14.4 percent).”
