Turnover falls for electricity and gas providers in October

Business turnover for the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industry fell 10.3 per cent in October, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: “The fall in the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industry was driven by weaker turnover from businesses in the Electricity and Gas supply subdivisions. Despite this fall, turnover is still higher than this time last year, with turnover up 7.3 per cent compared to October 2023.

“Turnover for businesses in the Electricity Supply subdivision fell 9.9 per cent as lower average prices coincided with abundant renewable energy supply.

“We saw other notable industry falls in Transport, postal and warehousing, which was down 3.1 per cent, Information media and telecommunications, down 2.8 per cent, and Mining, down 1.8 per cent.”

Falls in these industries were partially offset by rises in five of the 13 industries. 

“The largest rises were in Arts and recreation services, up 2.4 per cent, and Accommodation and food services, up 2.2 per cent,” Mr Ewing said.

The 13-industry aggregate showed business turnover falling 0.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms and 0.1 per cent in trend terms.
 

Compared to October 2023, turnover was higher for 10 of the 13 industries included in the indicator. 

The industries that saw the biggest annual rises were Arts and recreation services (+10.3 per cent) and Construction (+8.1 per cent). 

Mining had the largest annual fall (-14.4 per cent).