Around 1700 farmers, businesses and manufacturers will be supported to maintain and grow jobs in regional Queensland with a $52.3 million investment into electricity rebates over a nine-year span, as part of the state government's 2021-22 budget.
Under the Electricity Tariff Adjustment Scheme, new rebates will be automatically applied to eligible energy accounts from July 1 by Ergon Energy Retail.
All obsolete tariffs (except tariffs 47 and 48) will end this month, and customers on these tariffs will automatically switch to a standard business tariff from July 1.
Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni said ETAS has been designed to soften the blow anticipated by the tariff change.
"We understand the change may be challenging for some, which is why we're investing up to $52.3m over nine years to help ease any financial pressures while businesses adapt to protect regional jobs.
"The rebates will be applied for regional farmers, businesses and manufacturers whose annual power bills are impacted when switching to a standard tariff.
"ETAS will support employers by ensuring their viability, by helping them to grow and create jobs, with figures showing the scheme will support 1692 regional Queensland businesses and farmers."
Cotton Australia's Michael Murray said the scheme would support growers and irrigators across regional Queensland.
"Queensland is one of Australia's largest producers of cotton, supporting thousands of jobs in regional Queensland," he said.
"Affordable and reliable energy supply is critical for our members to export their world-class products across the globe, so these rebates are a welcomed relief."
Australian Foundry Institute's Joe Vecchio said the rebates will help maintain staff.
"Foundries are critical to the Queensland economy, supporting thousands of local jobs," he said.
"Any proposal that keeps their power prices low and keeps their doors open is great news for the industry."
Mr de Brenni said the new rebate would be calculated based on each individual customer's bill.
"Ergon Energy Retail will analyse existing bill data of around 20,000 regional farmers and businesses that are currently still on obsolete tariffs to identify eligible customers," he said.