Given that our entire political debate seems to be centred around the cost of living, and much of Tony Abbott’s election plan rests on a campaign against rising electricity prices, it must come as a shock to many to learn that wholesale electricity prices are at their lowest since the introduction of the national electricity market more than a decade ago.

You could be excused for not noticing. The way the market works in Australia, dominated as it is by vertically integrated companies that act as oligopolies all along the value chain, low wholesale electricity prices have not been reflected in retail costs, and because there is too much money being spent on upgrades and expansion of the grid — essentially the poles and wires.