Electricity Tops Australia's Confirmed 2026 Price Rises at 22.4 Percent After the Household Rebates Ended
The latest inflation figures show electricity was the standout confirmed price increase, while food rose 3.3% as a group and petrol fell.
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Electricity Tops Australia's Confirmed 2026 Price Rises at 22.4 Percent After the Household Rebates Ended
Australia's official price data do not publish a ranked list of the 10 supermarket products that have risen the most in 2026. The largest confirmed increase in the consumer basket is electricity, up 22.4 percent in the year to June, after government rebates that had cut household bills came to an end.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.8 percent in the 12 months to June and 4.0 percent in the 12 months to August, the latest reading from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Trimmed-mean inflation, which strips the largest moves, was steady at 3.6 percent in both the year to June and the year to August.
"Electricity remains one of the biggest contributors to annual inflation, with costs 22.4 percent higher than 12 months ago," Rachael McCririck, the bureau's head of price statistics, said with the June figures. "This is largely because government rebates which reduced household electricity bills have ended."
Housing was the largest group contributor in the year to June, up 6.8 percent. New-dwelling prices rose 5.8 percent, the highest annual rate in almost three years. "This was driven by builders passing on higher material and labour costs," McCririck said. Food and non-alcoholic beverages, and recreation and culture, each rose 3.3 percent in that year. Holiday travel and accommodation rose 4.6 percent in June alone, she said, on northern-hemisphere peak travel and higher jet fuel.
Insurance and financial services were among the main contributors to living-cost indexes in the June quarter, alongside food and housing. Import prices rose 6.2 percent through the year to June and 5.7 percent in the quarter. Those are category indexes. They are not a shelf price for a brand of cereal.
Fuel moved the other way. Automotive fuel fell 10.9 percent in June, a third straight monthly drop, and annual transport inflation slowed to 0.1 percent from 3.3 percent in May. "Lower world oil prices as a result of some stabilisation in the Middle East in June contributed to fuel prices falling 10.9 percent in the month," McCririck said. Federal fuel-excise relief that lowered prices in April and May was still in place. Fuel has been excluded from the trimmed mean every month since March, when the Middle East conflict hit prices.
A list of "10 products" circulating without an ABS table is not this dataset. The bureau prices a fixed basket and publishes groups, expenditure classes and, in the detailed tables, items such as electricity, rents, new dwellings and automotive fuel. It does not crown a single jar of coffee or a cut of beef as the year's biggest riser in a media top 10. Any ranking that names ten grocery lines with precise 2026 percentages and no table behind it is not the official series.
What the series does say, through August, is that the overall basket is 4 percent dearer than a year earlier, that the underlying rate is 3.6 percent, and that the standout confirmed item increase in the June accounts is electricity at 22.4 percent. New dwellings at 5.8 percent are next among the figures the bureau called out. Food is up, but at 3.3 percent as a group, not as a league table of products. Insurance is a living-cost pressure without a published product rank. Petrol is the large fall.
The Reserve Bank has been tightening against that 3.6 percent underlying rate. A Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey found consumer sentiment down for a second month in October as higher borrowing costs met the price level. The next CPI will move the electricity comparison only if bills do. The 22.4 percent figure is the rebate coming out of the index, not a new power station. It is still the largest price increase Australia's statisticians have put a number on this year.
Australia's official price data do not publish a ranked list of the 10 supermarket products that have risen the most in 2026. The largest confirmed increase in the consumer basket is electricity, up 22.4 percent in the year to June, after government rebates that had cut household bills came to an end.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.8 percent in the 12 months to June and 4.0 percent in the 12 months to August, the latest reading from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Trimmed-mean inflation, which strips the largest moves, was steady at 3.6 percent in both the year to June and the year to August.
"Electricity remains one of the biggest contributors to annual inflation, with costs 22.4 percent higher than 12 months ago," Rachael McCririck, the bureau's head of price statistics, said with the June figures. "This is largely because government rebates which reduced household electricity bills have ended."
Housing was the largest group contributor in the year to June, up 6.8 percent. New-dwelling prices rose 5.8 percent, the highest annual rate in almost three years. "This was driven by builders passing on higher material and labour costs," McCririck said. Food and non-alcoholic beverages, and recreation and culture, each rose 3.3 percent in that year. Holiday travel and accommodation rose 4.6 percent in June alone, she said, on northern-hemisphere peak travel and higher jet fuel.
Insurance and financial services were among the main contributors to living-cost indexes in the June quarter, alongside food and housing. Import prices rose 6.2 percent through the year to June and 5.7 percent in the quarter. Those are category indexes. They are not a shelf price for a brand of cereal.
Fuel moved the other way. Automotive fuel fell 10.9 percent in June, a third straight monthly drop, and annual transport inflation slowed to 0.1 percent from 3.3 percent in May. "Lower world oil prices as a result of some stabilisation in the Middle East in June contributed to fuel prices falling 10.9 percent in the month," McCririck said. Federal fuel-excise relief that lowered prices in April and May was still in place. Fuel has been excluded from the trimmed mean every month since March, when the Middle East conflict hit prices.
A list of "10 products" circulating without an ABS table is not this dataset. The bureau prices a fixed basket and publishes groups, expenditure classes and, in the detailed tables, items such as electricity, rents, new dwellings and automotive fuel. It does not crown a single jar of coffee or a cut of beef as the year's biggest riser in a media top 10. Any ranking that names ten grocery lines with precise 2026 percentages and no table behind it is not the official series.
What the series does say, through August, is that the overall basket is 4 percent dearer than a year earlier, that the underlying rate is 3.6 percent, and that the standout confirmed item increase in the June accounts is electricity at 22.4 percent. New dwellings at 5.8 percent are next among the figures the bureau called out. Food is up, but at 3.3 percent as a group, not as a league table of products. Insurance is a living-cost pressure without a published product rank. Petrol is the large fall.
The Reserve Bank has been tightening against that 3.6 percent underlying rate. A Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey found consumer sentiment down for a second month in October as higher borrowing costs met the price level. The next CPI will move the electricity comparison only if bills do. The 22.4 percent figure is the rebate coming out of the index, not a new power station. It is still the largest price increase Australia's statisticians have put a number on this year.
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