NSW residents are in for more cost-of-living pain, with the price of electricity, public transport, road tolls and mobile phone plans all set to rise.
From today, the default market offer for electricity will increase by between 1.7 and 8.2 per cent above inflation in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia.
The default market offer is a safety-net price cap set by the Australian Energy Regulator to protect consumers against unjustifiably high prices.
Victoria has its own default market offer, and prices in the rest of Australia are regulated separately by states and territories.
Opal fares for public transport in NSW will increase by an average of 3 per cent starting from Monday.
Road tolls in Sydney, which have been rising every three months, will go up by 2 per cent today.
Telstra supplies mobile phone services to nearly half of the Australian market, according to the Australian Communications Media Authority.
The cost of its mobile packages will increase by $3 or $4 a month from today.
The chart below shows how annual electricity bills for different energy companies and plans have been affected by price fluctuations.
It is based on the annual electricity use of an average residential customer.
Some customers have seen their electricity bills increase by nearly 25 per cent, or more than $20 a month.
These changes do not take into account the increase resulting from today's change to the default market offer.
It will add more than $210 per year to the average electricity bill, according to the Australian Energy Regulator.
Christine Seib, editor-in-chief of consumer product comparison website Canstar Blue, said the war in Ukraine, global coal prices and floods in parts of Australia had pushed up the wholesale price of electricity even before today's increase in the price cap.
She said the 10 per cent of consumers on default market offers would be most impacted by the price change.
"There's a few things people can do," she said.
"The big things are to be conscious that the default price that you see is not the amount you should pay — that's the maximum.
"Even now, in certain locations in New South Wales, you can get a 23 per cent reduction on the current default price, so there are definitely cheaper plans out there.
"Don't assume if you've got the default price, that's the good price."
She said it was difficult to predict what would happen over the rest of the year, but most analysts expected prices to fluctuate for at least three months.
"There are more technical things people can do, such as if they're very worried about this uncertainty in the energy market, the prospect that prices might keep on going up, there is such a thing as a fixed-rate energy plan," she said.
A fixed plan locks in the rate you pay for electricity for up to two years, but bills can still fluctuate if you use more electricity.
Sydney commuters are also in for a hike in the cost of getting to work.
Travelling to work each day from Gosford on the Central Coast to Central Station will cost an extra $12.80 a month, and from Penrith to Central an extra $10 a month.
Tolls on six Sydney motorways will increase, with the cost of travelling from Bella Vista in the north-west to Wetherill Park to increase to $8.89.
That is a 5.7 per cent increase since the same time last year, or $19.20 a month based on travelling five days a week.
Edwina MacDonald, acting CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, said people on low incomes were already making the impossible choice of whether to skip a meal, turn off the heating or miss out on essential medicines.
"Increases in the price of food, fuel, electricity and phone packages place immense pressure on people who already cannot afford essentials because they are on impossibly low incomes," she said.
There is relief for some consumers in the form of a federal government one-off cost-of-living payment.
Six million people, more than half of who are pensioners, will get a one-off $250 payment today.
Those on low and middle incomes up to $125,000 will get a one-off cost-of-living tax offset worth between $420 and $1,500.
The lowest-paid workers will also see their pay packets rise from today.
Following a decision by the Fair Work Commission in June, the national minimum wage will rise from $20.33 per hour to $21.38.
That equates to $812.60 for a 38-hour week — a $40 increase.
Ms MacDonald said not everyone would benefit from some of the relief packages.
"Most people on income support, including pensions, are not in paid work, so wage increases and tax offsets do not deliver a benefit to them," she said.
"This is why lifting income support is so important because it's the only way to ensure people on the lowest incomes are better able to cover the cost of essentials."
There is some relief ahead for toll-road drivers in Sydney, with cash rebates of up to $750 a year announced in the NSW budget last week.
However, only commuters spending more than $375 a year will benefit.
