Fruit packing firm faces power price challenge

A Shepparton fruit packing business says it is still working out how it will handle a 15 per cent increase in its electricity costs since the introduction of the carbon tax.

Geoffrey Thompson Holdings operates seven cool stores in the region and employs more than 400 people.

The managing director of the business, Garry Parker, says the company will have to look at where costs can be saved.

"Each account has a separate line item in the bill that clearly states carbon charge," he said.

"We just go through each bill and there on each account is this line item.

"For example, the main cool storage business in Wheeler Street where we do all our packing, it had a carbon charge on that site only of just over 10-and-a-half thousand dollars on an account that was 70,000 for the month."

The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Mark Dreyfus, says there are Government grants available for large businesses to help them improve their energy efficiency.

He says the electricity price rise needs to be put in context.

"Of course it sounds like a lot of money but you need to see it in the context of the business itself and they key question is what proportion of their outgoings is represented by that kind of electricity bill," he said.

Source: ABC News, 21 August 2012