Regional liquid petroleum gas users like laundries and bakeries have been spared a bigger hit from the carbon tax says Federal MP Tony Windsor.
The New England MP says LPG users - and there are plenty of commercial ones in regional areas - have won a reprieve because an anomaly in compliance for the industry under the new Clean Energy Future Package has been fixed and will allow suppliers extra time to calculate their price liabilities.
Mr Windsor says the industry will now be able to more accurately calculate their costs in paying their carbon price for energy delivered to business and the home.
He says transitional arrangements will particularly help regional Australians who don't have access to reticulated natural gas.
"There are around one million LPG customers in regional Australia who use the gas for domestic and business purposes where reticulated natural gas isn't available.
"The new arrangements mean that around $10 million in compliance costs for the LPG industry will be saved by giving suppliers the extra time they need to calculate their carbon price liabilities in 2012-13.
"This saving will reduce the cost burden on regional people who use LPG to heat their homes.
"These changes will also benefit regional businesses such as bakeries and laundries that use LPG to power their equipment and machinery.
Mr Windsor said he was part of the Multi Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) and insisted that ALL transport fuels, including LPG used for transport, be excluded from paying a carbon price.
However when the anomaly surfaced that LPG used for non-transport purposes was to be charged an equivalent carbon price under the fuel excise scheme, the LPG industry asked to be included in the carbon pricing scheme in line with that for natural gas.