Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams: plastic bag ban and help with energy bills

Households experiencing difficulty paying their energy bills will be able to access up to $1600 a year after the NSW Government increased support payments.

The Energy Accounts Payment Assistance (EAPA) program has helped 49,000 NSW households experiencing short-term financial hardship with their energy bills. From Monday, each application will have its limit increased from $300 to $400, up to a maximum of $1600 a year.

Eligible customers can receive payment assistance of up to $400 per application for electricity and up to $400 per application for gas bills twice a year.

This means the annual maximum limit of vouchers has increased from $1200 to $1600 per household.

The boost to assistance for electricity and gas bills comes as the Australian Energy Regulator released its final determination showing NSW energy customers on standing offers will face price increases from 1st July.

Eligible households can also apply for a range of different rebates including the Low Income Household Rebate, Gas Rebate, Family Energy Rebate, and Seniors Energy Rebate.

Customers can see what they are eligible for by using the Service NSW Savings Finder, by phoning 13 77 88 or visiting a Service NSW Centre.

Lightweight plastic bags go from Wednesday

The ban on lightweight plastic bags will officially come into force this Wednesday 1st June in line with the first stage of the NSW Government's single-use plastics ban.

The ban will help to prevent almost 2.7 billion items of plastic litter from entering the environment in NSW over the next 20 years.

This plastic bag ban and the further single-use plastic bans later in the year will significantly improve the state of our environment for our region.

As we all know, it's the little changes that matter and make a difference.

In addition to the lightweight plastic bag ban on Wednesday, from November the NSW Government is banning:

The National Retail Association has launched a free hotline (1800 844 946) to offer businesses, community organisations and consumers advice on the single-use plastic bans.