ALUMINIUM production: Struggling with high electricity prices
Electricity accounts for 30-40% of the cost of aluminium production. Consumer electricity prices have tripled since 2000 (much more than all consumer prices). Although paying less than normal consumer prices, Australia’s four aluminium smelters have faced the same strong price increases. Jérôme Dozol, CEO of Tomago Aluminium (near Newcastle), said in late 2024 that electricity prices are too high to allow his smelter to operate without government assistance. The Federal Government announced in January 2025 a support package for smelters to use renewable electricity. The Queensland government is supporting the Boyne smelter near Gladstone.
Rio Tinto controls three of Australis’s smelters; AGL controls the fourth, at Portland in Victoria.
Consumer electricity prices, Australia, 2000 – 2024
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Consumer Price Index, March quarter 2025.
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