This house could be yours ... for a price

13 Albatross Avenue, Mermaid Beach. Source: Supplied

A FOUR-LEVEL mansion right on the beach in one of the Gold Coast's most exclusive suburbs has been placed on the market, with an astronomical price tag.

Property records reveal the home, on a double block of absolute beachfront land in Albatross Ave at Mermaid Beach is owned by Peter Drake, the head of financial services company LM Investment Management.

Last month LM Investment Management voluntarily placed itself under administration.

The mansion, known as Oceanview, once featured on television show Great Australian Sandcastles and in the book Beach Houses Down Under.

It is being marketed through John Henderson Professionals at Mermaid Beach.

Luke Henderson said if the asking price was achieved it would be among the highest price paid for a home on the Gold Coast.

"It really is an amazing home in an amazing location," Mr Henderson said.

The four-level home covers two beachfront lots and has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a theatre room, a roof-top bar and entertainment area, gymnasium and a private skateboard park.

The basement has parking for up to five cars.

Despite the high price tag, Mr Henderson expects strong interest in the property.

13 Albatross Avenue, Mermaid Beach. PIC: Supplied

He said there were buyers who could handle a property of that nature and his search will take in potential local buyers and those also based overseas.

13 Albatross Avenue, Mermaid Beach.

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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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Double-digit shock in power price surge

     Source: The Courier-Mail

HOUSEHOLDS are set to be stung by a massive double-digit electricity price hike, the biggest increase in years.

A combination of factors will be blamed for the hike, including the ongoing investment in the distribution network, subsidies for rooftop solar systems and the carbon tax.

The Courier-Mail has learnt that today's announcement by the Queensland Competition Authority will shock many households already struggling to keep up with surging bills.

How will you cope with the power price rise? Tell us below

It is expected the Newman Government will attempt to tackle the increase, which is yet to be detailed, with a raft of actions, including reducing the requirement to build duplicate backup infrastructure.

After promising to deliver cost-of-living relief at last year's election, the price rise will put pressure on Premier Campbell Newman to deliver long-term relief from skyrocketing electricity costs.

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However selling off assets has been ruled out as an option until after the next election.

The Government will also maintain the lucrative 44c feed-in tariff for some solar consumers, despite the generous impost being passed on to all other households.

Lifting last year's election price cap on tariff 11 will cost the average household about $120 per annum.

The QCA determines electricity price hikes according to many factors, including information supplied by retailers. Today's announcement by the QCA will be the first in a new three-year arrangement to control the state's prices.

Debate remains over Queensland's decision to regulate prices. Victoria's prices are not regulated and evidence shows that customers there pay less or the same as Queenslanders.

Origin Energy managing director Grant King yesterday criticised Queensland's system, claiming the regulated prices were effectively shutting out small energy retailers.

"People might move (electricity retailers) for $100, but they won't generally move for $50 or $25 or nothing," Mr King said. "So it is a reverse logic because the price regulation sets a cap, but if the cap is too low there is not enough room to compete."

According to a report by the Australian Energy Regulator, three retailers - AGL, Origin and Energy Australia - jointly supply 76 per cent of customers.

Last year, Origin went to court to argue that QCA had set the price too low.

Premier Newman reacted strongly last winter when Origin challenged the QCA determination, urging government departments to shop around the retailer for a better deal.

Origin reneged and the Supreme Court later upheld the QCA's decision-making process.

On Friday morning, Queensland's Treasurer slammed the proposed double-digit electricity price hikes as "unacceptable" and blamed "bad decisions" by the former State Government, and the Federal Government.

Speaking on ABC Radio, Tim Nicholls said the Federal Government had permitted its regulator to allow "overinvestment in poles and wires" which made up 60 per cent of the increase.

He said the second largest component of the increase was the "very poorly thought through solar scheme" which gave people who could afford green energy systems enormous payouts.

"Four years ago about 2000 people had solar, that's now heading towards 200,000 and that energy is being redirected back into a system that has to be upgraded in order to take it," Mr Nicholls said.

"Nonetheless, people who have solar need to have power from the generators because they turn on most of their power after six o'clock at night when the sun goes down. It is an idiot cycle that hasn't been properly thought through."

Mr Nicholls said they were still waiting to see the determination being released by the Queensland Competition Authority.

"When it comes through, we'll be looking at the determination to see what assistance we can provide to Queenslanders to help them deal with what is unfortunately a legacy issue from past bad decisions made by both the former State Government and the Federal Government," Mr Nicholls said.

Additional reporting, Robyn Ironside

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