Power price rises peak has passed: AEMC HOUSEHOLD electricity price rises are expected to moderate over the next two years to mid-2015. The assessment by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) released on Friday is based on the likelihood that generator network costs will fall in 2013/14 and 2014/15. The average total average power price was projected to rise by 14 per cent this financial year. But the following annual increases are due to be a lot less - at three per cent. "Network prices will continue to drive the total prices paid by households, but as investment needs are progressively re-assessed this may lead to lower network costs," AEMC chairman John Pierce said in a statement. If current trends continue, overall wholesale prices are expected to remain flat, and we expect retail costs to flatten as well. Power prices also have risen over the past year as electricity generators absorbed the impact of the federal government's carbon pricing regime, which began on July 1 last year. The average impact was about forecast at about nine per cent, although the AEMC says most of the uptick in prices was due to network costs - that is, poles and wires infrastructure. Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the peak of network investment was now over and power bills would in future move in line with inflation. "This is good news for energy consumers, who have faced rising electricity costs in the order of 50 per cent over the past three years - driven overwhelmingly by the need to upgrade and maintain ageing network infrastructure built as long ago as the 1960s," he said in a statement.