Energy Policies That Actually Matter to Eastern Victoria

Energy costs are hitting Victorian families and businesses hard, and if you’re living anywhere from Pakenham to Bairnsdale, Mornington Peninsula to the hills around Marysville, you’ve probably noticed your power bill creeping up despite all the talk about cheaper renewable energy.

With the Victorian state election coming up on November 28, 2026, it’s time to cut through the political spin and look at what each party is actually promising for energy policies and what it means for your wallet.

Where Your Energy Bill Stands Right Now

Let’s start with the numbers that matter. According to Victoria’s Essential Services Commission, the average Victorian household electricity bill sits around $1,675 per year based on typical usage of 4,000 kWh. That’s up about $20 from last year, which doesn’t sound like much until you add it to everything else that’s gone up.

Here’s the interesting bit though. Victoria has the cheapest wholesale electricity prices in Australia at $45 per megawatt hour in the last quarter of 2024. That’s almost half the national average of $88. So why aren’t we feeling it in our pockets?

The answer comes down to how our energy system works, the costs of getting power from where it’s made to where you use it, and whether the policies being promised will actually reduce electricity bills or just sound good on a pamphlet.

What Each Party is Actually Promising

Labor’s Renewable Push

The current Labor government, led by Premier Jacinta Allan, is doubling down on renewable transition. They’ve set targets that sound ambitious: 65 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 95 percent by 2035.

What does that actually mean? They’re planning to build a lot of wind and solar, backed by massive battery storage. The government has set energy storage targets of 2.6 gigawatts by 2030 and 6.3 gigawatts by 2035, which they reckon will power about half of Victoria’s homes at peak times.

They’ve also brought back the State Electricity Commission to direct government investment into renewables. The 2025-26 Victorian State Budget allocated $30 million to help 27,000 households install electric heat pumps and solar hot water, plus $26 million to assess more renewable projects.

The gamble here is whether they can build it fast enough and cheap enough to keep the lights on when coal plants close. Yallourn Power Station is shutting in 2028, which currently provides about 20 percent of Victoria’s power.

Liberal and National Coalition’s Approach

The Coalition, now led by Jess Wilson, has been quieter on specific state energy commitments. Federally, they’ve opposed heavy subsidies for renewables, but at the state level, they’re focusing on what they call “reliable infrastructure.”

The Nationals, who have a strong presence in regional areas like Gippsland and Wellington in Eastern Victoria, emphasize using Australia’s natural resources for prosperity and opposing what they see as expensive subsidies for foreign-made solar panels and wind turbines.

The Coalition hasn’t released a detailed energy policy platform yet for the 2026 election, but their approach seems to be about grid reliability first, transition second. They’re concerned about the pace of coal plant closures outstripping new renewable capacity.

Greens’ Fast Track to 100%

The Greens want 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. That’s five years earlier and 35 percentage points higher than Labor’s target. They’re calling for replacing coal and gas entirely while supporting workers through the transition.

It’s the most aggressive timeline on offer, which raises questions about cost and reliability. Can you build that much renewable capacity that quickly? And more importantly for Eastern Victoria residents, who pays for it?

One Nation’s Resource Focus

One Nation opposes what they call multi-billion-dollar subsidies for solar and wind. Their pitch is simple: use Australia’s abundant natural resources, including coal and gas, to deliver prosperity for citizens rather than profits for overseas renewable energy companies.

For regional areas like Eastern Victoria, this resonates with people who’ve watched energy prices climb while being told renewables will make things cheaper. One Nation argues we should be using what we’ve got rather than importing technology and paying for a rushed transition.

The Eastern Victoria Reality Check

Eastern Victoria covers a massive area from Melbourne’s outer suburbs through Gippsland and up into the high country. That means wildly different energy realities depending on where you live.

If you’re in Pakenham or the southeastern suburbs, you’re connected to the same network as metro Melbourne. Your energy costs are shaped by the same factors as someone in Brunswick.

But if you’re in Bairnsdale, Traralgon, or Lakes Entrance, you’re looking at different network costs. The AusNet Services network covers Eastern Victoria, and those long transmission lines through less populated areas cost more to maintain than dense urban networks.

This is where renewable energy policy gets tricky for regional areas. Most of the proposed renewable energy zones are in northwestern Victoria, not the east. VicGrid’s planning identifies the east as largely an “avoidance area” because of land values, agriculture, and landscape significance.

What that means is Eastern Victoria might pay for renewable infrastructure elsewhere but not see the local economic benefits of hosting wind farms or solar arrays. It’s worth asking politicians about this disconnect.

Wind Power Cost vs Nuclear Power Plant Cost

You’ll hear politicians throw around numbers about wind power cost and nuclear power plant cost like they’re comparing apples to apples. They’re not, and the difference is bigger than you might think.

According to CSIRO’s GenCost 2024-25 report, which is the gold standard for comparing electricity generation costs in Australia, nuclear power would cost between $145 and $238 per megawatt hour by 2040. Compare that to wind at $45 to $78 per megawatt hour and solar at $22 to $53 per megawatt hour.

That means nuclear costs at least twice as much as renewables, even when you factor in nuclear’s longer operational life. CSIRO found there’s no unique cost advantage to nuclear lasting longer because you can build renewables twice over the same period for less money than building nuclear once and maintaining it.

Small modular nuclear reactors are even worse. If they could somehow be ready by 2030, which they can’t, they’d cost up to $487 per megawatt hour. That’s not a typo.

But here’s where it gets tricky for the nuclear debate. Australia has never built a commercial nuclear reactor. CSIRO estimates it would take at least 15 years from first concrete pour to completion, and that’s only after you’ve spent years overturning legislative bans, setting up regulatory frameworks, and getting community approval. Realistically, you’re looking at 20 years minimum, more likely longer.

Yallourn closes in 2028. That’s three years away. Nuclear can’t help with that problem even if we started today.

Firmed renewables with storage and transmission cost between $80 and $122 per megawatt hour in 2030. That’s still cheaper than the best-case scenario for nuclear, and renewables can actually be built in time to replace closing coal plants.

Now, nuclear advocates will tell you CSIRO’s got it wrong, that standardised designs and sequential construction could make it cheaper. Maybe they’re right. But even the most optimistic projections put nuclear at double the cost of renewables, and we’d still be waiting until the 2040s for it to come online.

That doesn’t mean the renewable transition is flawless. Transmission upgrades are delayed, supply chain issues are real, and global energy prices for equipment have jumped. But when you’re choosing between technology that costs twice as much and takes 20 years versus technology that costs half as much and can be built in 2 to 3 years, the maths isn’t complicated.

What About Your Energy Bill Right Now?

All these policies sound great on paper, but what can you actually do about your energy costs today?

First, use Victorian Energy Compare, the government’s free comparison tool. People who switched in 2024 saved around $240 on average. That’s real money you can keep in your pocket rather than wait for policy changes.

Second, check if you qualify for the energy rebates. Most households got $150 in Energy Bill Relief Fund credits across the first half of 2025. If you have a concession card, there’s an additional $100 bonus available from August 2025.

Third, if you’re thinking about solar, now’s a good time. Victoria’s renewable energy targets mean more support programs are coming, but equipment costs might rise if global demand keeps climbing.

The Opportunity Everyone’s Missing

Here’s what none of the major parties are talking about enough: community-owned renewables.

Imagine your local community owning a share of a wind farm or solar array. The energy gets fed into the grid, and your community gets the revenue to offset local power bills. It’s already happening overseas, and Victoria could accelerate it.

This matters for Eastern Victoria because it addresses the fairness question. If renewable infrastructure is being built, local communities should benefit, not just tolerate it on their doorsteps while developers take the profits.

The other opportunity is grid modernization that actually works. Victoria needs battery storage, sure, but it also needs smarter grids that can handle two-way power flow when your neighbour’s solar panels are pumping out excess electricity.

Questions to Ask Your Local Candidates

With the election 11 months away, now’s the time to corner your local candidates and get real answers. Here’s what to ask:

What’s your specific plan to keep electricity prices down for Eastern Victoria households? Make them give you numbers, not slogans.

How will you balance renewable targets with grid reliability? This matters more in regional areas where power outages hit harder.

Will you support community-owned renewable projects? If they look confused, they haven’t thought about it.

How do you plan to handle the Yallourn closure in 2028? It’s only three years away and provides 20 percent of Victoria’s power.

What support will you provide for households and businesses transitioning to electrification? Because heat pumps and electric vehicles are coming whether you’re ready or not.

The Bottom Line

Energy policy in Victoria is at a crossroads. The Victorian state election on November 28, 2026 will determine whether we rush headlong into 100 percent renewables, stick with the current 95 percent by 2035 plan, or pump the brakes and focus on reliability.

For Eastern Victoria, the stakes are high. We need energy costs that don’t cripple family budgets and business margins. We need reliable power that doesn’t cut out when you need it most. And we need a fair transition that doesn’t leave regional communities behind while metro areas reap the benefits.

Victoria currently has the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Australia thanks to renewable energy pushing down costs. That’s proof the concept works. The question is whether politicians can deliver the infrastructure fast enough without blowing up power bills in the process.

No party has all the answers. Labor’s betting big on government-led renewable investment. The Coalition wants to slow down and prioritise reliability. The Greens want to go faster. One Nation wants to lean on traditional resources.

The truth is probably somewhere in the messy middle: we need renewables to replace closing coal plants, but we need them built on time, at reasonable cost, with proper grid infrastructure and community benefit. That requires less political point-scoring and more practical delivery.

As someone trying to join the dots between policy and reality, here’s my take: ask hard questions, demand specific answers, and don’t accept “trust us” from any politician about your energy future. Your power bill is too important for vague promises.

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Key Takeaways

• Victorian electricity bills average $1,675 per year for typical households in 2025
• Victoria has Australia’s cheapest wholesale electricity prices at $45/MWh thanks to renewable energy
• Labor targets 65% renewables by 2030; Greens want 100%; Coalition focuses on reliability
• Most proposed renewable energy zones are in northwest Victoria, not the east
• Eastern Victoria faces higher network costs due to regional infrastructure
• Community-owned renewable projects could benefit local areas but aren’t prioritized
• Yallourn Power Station closes in 2028, creating urgent need for replacement capacity

Compare your energy plan today at Victorian Energy Compare and save up to $240