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Consumers are being advised to be vigilant as the fight against climate change kicks in from tomorrow.
Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin says retailers may try to take advantage of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and use it as an excuse to hike prices.
Chetwin told TVNZ News at 8 that if consumers see substantial rises they have the choice to not make the purchase or shop around for a cheaper price. But she says the extra cost of electricity and fuel will trickle down to "just about everything".
The Commerce Commission is also warning against price gouging. The commerce watchdog is urging businesses not to mislead customers by blaming the ETS for price increases with spokesman Greg Allan saying they need to look at the risk to their reputation.
Chetwin says it is a fair trading issue and consumers should shop around, ask questions and make sure retailers aren't getting away with overcharging. "We'd like to hope that businesses will be contained but we will get a number of complaints, that goes without saying," says Chetwin.
A business that breaches the act can be fined up to $200,000 while an individual can be fined $60,000.
Chetwin says the organisation is more concerned with the indirect costs as anything that gets transported will be affected. And she says it's hard to know whether tax rebates will mitigate price rises.
The government estimates the Emissions Trading Scheme will cost an average family $165 a year but that only takes into account the petrol and electricity hikes.
Families are about to be hit by a raft of other, unrelated price hikes.
From tomorrow registering vehicles will cost more, the bill for cars going up $30 to $200; the tax on liquor will increase by around 2%, an annual adjustment; local rates will be set tomorrow and will go up by varying amounts depending on where you live and because of a tax hike, new life insurance policies will increase by up to 25%.
If you live in Wellington you'll pay more to go to some city pools while in Invercargill all carparking and bus rides will cost up to 30 cents more.
But the government says families have more to spend because of the significant number of tax cuts.
"If you look at the average worker on $50,000 a year, their tax cut in the time that we've roughly been in office has been $48 a week," says Prime Minister John Key.
But on October 1, GST increases from 12.5% to 15%, raising prices once again.
