Besides the carbon tax and Australian states, another scapegoat - or scapedog - was blamed for the rise in electricity bills of some homeowners. Ergon Energy is blaming pet dogs for failure of the utility firm's employees to read some electric meters.

As a result, customers in such a situation will be billed according to the same quarter of the previous year. However, if the current quarterly consumption is higher than the previous year, the catch-up bill for the next quarter would be significantly higher, said Ergon Regional Services Manager Geoff Bowes.

He said dogs attacking meter readers is a real issue for Ergon. Mr Bowes disclosed that 25 meter readers across Queensland have been attacked by dogs in 2012 with some of the readers hospitalised because of the incident.

While the Opposition is quick to blame the Gillard government's carbon tax for the rise in electricity prices, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is accusing states of hiking power rates by up to 60 per cent when estimates said the carbon tax is supposed to add only $115 a year to the power bill of Australian households this financial year.

The unjustifiable hike in electricity rates led Ms Gillard to push for a revamp of the electricity market in Australia. Power rates rose 60 per cent in New South Wales, 16 per cent in Queensland and almost 200 per cent in Western Australia the past four years, causing the state-owned utility firms to enjoy windfall profit.

Power firms explained the rise in electricity rates to the $42 billion they spent on infrastructure over the past five years from 2009 to replace post-war installations that reached the end of their life, and peak power usage when most households turn on their air conditioners during hot days.

Australian Energy Regulator Chairman Andrew Reeves pushed for more powers to oversee the industry, particularly excessive and unnecessary spending by power firms which add to the higher cost of electricity.

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