Cancer Patient Hit with $2100 Bill as NSW Village Owners Charge Max Power Price

For residents in the older section of Kincumber Nautical Village on the NSW Central Coast, a legal technicality is creating immense financial hardship, forcing some to choose between heating and solvency.

The consequences are stark for residents like Tony Barnes, who is fighting two forms of cancer and requires heating through the colder months. For a five-month period, Barnes was charged $2,100 for his electricity, a cost he believes should have been around $300.

The crippling cost is a result of the village\’s power structure. In the older, 200-site section, residents are tied to an embedded network. Park owners, the Hampshire Property Group, buy power from Ausgrid at a wholesale rate—an average of six cents/kwh—and legally resell it to residents at the maximum allowed price of 36 cents/kwh.

This 400 per cent markup compounds the financial stress for seniors already paying a weekly land lease fee that increases every year.

The situation creates an acute inequality within the community itself:

Older Village Section (200 sites): Residents are forced into the high-priced embedded network, paying the maximum rate allowed by the operator.

Newer Village Section: Residents have the autonomy to choose their own power provider and can benefit from sign-up discounts and competitive market rates.

While the new owners are operating within the bounds of the law, their decision to charge the absolute legal maximum is placing significant financial pressure on the park\’s most vulnerable residents. Tony Barnes\’ experience underscores the urgent need for price fairness in these specific over 50s community arrangements.