-- and household assistance will not blunt these price signals. What is driving electricity price increases? Australian electricity prices have been rising rapidly over the past five years, although they are still low compared to other developed countries. The costs of supplying electricity are made up of the costs of: The main cause of the recent price rises has been rising costs of transmitting and distributing electricity. These costs have been rising because of increased investment in the transmission and distribution networks. The owners of electricity networks are upgrading them to: replace ageing infrastructure; expand networks so they can cope with peaks in demand for electricity; and meet higher safety and reliability standards in some states. Figure 4.3 below shows the expected causes of electricity price rises. Pricing carbon will affect the price of electricity by increasing the cost of generating power. The bulk of Australia's electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. The major electricity generating companies are amongst the biggest carbon polluters in our economy, so they will pay the carbon price. Across Australia, the carbon price is expected to increase electricity prices by 10 per cent on average in 2012-13 or around $3.30 per week on average across households. The Australian Government has taken this expected increase in electricity prices into account in designing its household assistance package. 4.4 The opportunities for households The Government has designed an ongoing household assistance package worth $14.9 billion over four years to be delivered primarily through tax cuts, higher family