Imagine being forced to pay a staggering 400% markup on your electricity bills, all while living on a fixed pension. This is the harsh reality for residents of Kincumber Nautical Village, an over-50s land lease community on the NSW Central Coast. But here's where it gets even more unsettling: these residents already face annual increases in their weekly land lease fees, making every dollar count. And this is the part most people miss—while some villagers can shop around for cheaper power providers, others are trapped in an embedded network system that allows park owners to resell electricity at sky-high rates.
Take Tony Barnes, for example, a resident battling two forms of cancer. During winter, he had no choice but to keep his heater running, only to be hit with a $2,100 electricity bill for five months. To put that in perspective, the park owners likely paid just $300 for the same amount of power. It’s a stark reminder of how vulnerable retirees can be when essential costs spiral out of control.
Here’s how the system works: Kincumber Village is divided into two sections. In the newer part, residents enjoy the freedom to choose their power provider and benefit from sign-up discounts. But in the older section, 200 sites are part of an embedded network. This means the park owners buy electricity from Ausgrid at an average rate of six cents per kilowatt-hour and resell it to residents at a whopping 36 cents per kilowatt-hour—a 400% markup. Is this fair? Or is it a loophole that exploits those least able to afford it?
Hampshire Property Group, which manages over 50 village communities across Australia, took over Kincumber Village earlier this year. While they’re not breaking any rules—new legislation caps prices and reviews them annually—they’ve chosen to charge the maximum allowed. But is maximizing profit at the expense of retirees’ financial stability ethical?
This situation raises critical questions: Should there be stricter regulations to protect vulnerable communities? Or is it up to operators to act with greater compassion? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. After all, when it comes to essential services like electricity, who should bear the cost of fairness?
