Victorians drinking to get stinking

Almost 40 per cent of Victorians are consuming booze for the sole purpose of getting plastered. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

A GROWING number of Victorians are drinking to get drunk, the annual alcohol poll reveals.

Almost 40 per cent of Victorian drinkers are consuming booze for the sole purpose of getting plastered to the point of slurring their speech and losing balance - up from 36 per cent in 2011.

The Foundation for Alcohol and Research Education's (FARE) survey of 1500 Australians found two thirds believe it is OK for someone to get drunk.

The number of people knocking back six or more drinks has also risen, climbing from 12 per cent to 17 per cent in the past three years.

It also found:

ALMOST a quarter of Australian drinkers report not been able to stop drinking once they start.

DRINKER'S remorse affects 3.5 million of us.

ALMOST one in five are rarely or never comfortable in a pub, club or bar without drinking.

Slightly fewer people are drinking until they forget, but more than 25 per cent still do.

Gen Y drinkers are the most likely to report feeling guilty after drinking, not being able to stop once they start and erasing their memories.

One third of people regret some form of communication by phone or internet while they were drunk. Predictably Gen Y drinkers were the most likely to dial, text or type while drunk.

More than three quarters of parents or guardians think it is acceptable to drink around their children. One third believe consuming 3-5 drinks is warranted.

When it comes to our poison of choice, wine, beer and spirits remain favourites, based predominantly on taste, price and brand loyalty.

Home is preferred place of consumption and 50 per cent of people drink before going out.

Almost half of those aged 18 to 24 are downing alcohol and energy drinks.

Drinkers are spending about $30 a week on alcohol.

The study revealed Labor, Liberal and Greens voters were united in the need to tackle excessive drinking.

The majority want to curb our collective hangover using health labels, an alcohol advertising TV ban after 8.30pm and closing bars and pubs at 1am or earlier.

FARE chief executive Michael Thorn said the survey showed the failure of the government to reduce the problem.

He called for mandatory warnings to pregnant women, a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder action plan and the phasing out of alcohol sponsorship of sporting and cultural events.

lucie.vandenberg@news.com.au

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Victorians face gas price hikes

GAS distribution charges are forecast to climb by $80 for some Victorian households over the next five years.

But others will be spared a higher cost of living crunch amid claims energy giants have been gouging customers by providing inflated forecasts of the amount of money needed to upgrade networks.

The nation's energy regulator has stripped $1.1 billion from network and transmission companies' original proposals, ruling their demands for cash were unjustified.

In an Australian Energy Regulator decision released this morning, distribution prices for residents in the Envestra zone, which covers Melbourne's outer east, Sale and Albury-Wodonga, are tipped to rise $16 annually over the next five years. This is mainly due to inflation.

But residents in the SP AusNet area in the west will get some much needed relief, with fees likely to fall $5 each year.

And a distribution price freeze has been ordered for those in Multinet region in Melbourne's inner and outer east, Yarra Ranges and South Gippsland.

APA GasNet transmission charges, which cover all customers, are also tipped to fall about $5 a year.

Gas distribution and transmission charges make up 40 per cent of a typical household bill. Wholesale and retail costs make up the rest.

The decision takes effect from July 1 this year.

The AER says its revised pricing framework puts more scrutiny on expenditure requests to "ensure that customers do not pay higher prices than necessary".

"For all businesses except Envestra, the final decisions will result in lower tariffs ... All other things being equal, if retailers pass these lower tariffs on to end consumers, gas bills will go down," the AER decision notes.

"However, whether consumers actually get a real decrease in their bill will depend on various things including what happens to the wholesale price of gas."

Today's ruling follows a performance report released this week revealing customers had been overcharged tens of millions of dollars in recent years for pipe upgrades that were not undertaken.

The AER found distributors reaped $120 million more in returns than forecast for 2009-2011, mainly due to underspending on replacement pipes.

"The gas distribution businesses spent significantly less on their mains replacement program than the allowance provided for in the 2008-12 period."

The AER said Multinet replaced less than half of the kilometres of pipes previously approved by the regulator.

"This underspend meant that consumers, through the prices charged by the businesses, paid for pipeline replacement that was never delivered."

karen.collier@news.com.au

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