New financial year brings changes in Qld QUEENSLANDERS will pay substantially more for electricity from Monday, as the government tries to convince the public it's doing all it can to bring down prices. The new financial year will see a number of changes across the state, but the power price hike will be the toughest for householders battling the cost of living. Electricity prices will rise by about $260 a year for the average household, under a ruling by the Queensland Competition Authority. To combat the hike, and try to keep its promise to bring down the cost of living, the government has proposed merging the state-owned energy distributors Energex and Ergon to save $580 million over seven years. But unions say jobs will be lost, there will be more blackouts and it's the first step to prime the distributors for privatisation. And that's not the only battle front for unions. From July 1, unions face tough new accountability laws that require them and employer groups to ballot members before spending more than $10,000 on a political campaign. Opponents claim the laws are about muzzling free speech, but the government says it's about ensuring members' fees are spent responsibly. The stand-off is headed for the courts with unions saying they'll mount a High Court challenge, arguing the laws remove the right to freedom of political communication.