Richard Marles is backing Industry Minister Ed Husic after he said Australian gas companies are “addicted” to huge war-driven profits.

The Deputy Prime Minister was quizzed about Mr Husic’s comments as companies claim they’re struggling to deal with the government’s temporary $12 per gigajoule price cap.

On Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission provided guidelines to help gas companies better understand their obligations, while also confirming it would investigate producers trying to avoid supplying gas below the price cap under the cover of confusion.

After Mr Husic claimed the gas providers were suffering withdrawal symptoms from their “Putin profits” habit, Mr Marles said he “certainly” backed him in.

Our focus is on the budgets of Australian households and the budgets of Australian businesses … I’m pretty confident the budgets of the gas producers are going to be okay,” he told ABC TV.

“The war in Ukraine had an extraordinary impact on energy markets around the world, Australian businesses, the Australian household shouldn’t have to bear the burden of that.”

Gas retailers say they’ve been struggling to lock in new contracts with producers since the price cap came into force, preventing them from providing affordable gas to new industrial and commercial customers.

ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the government would be able to force compliance through the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, which allows the government to restrict LNG exports if a shortfall is projected in the domestic market 12 months in advance.

“But it will be important to ask the question – how do we result in a failure to supply?” she told Sky News.

She said there was a fundamental mismatch between the prices gas suppliers were offering their customers and what they could reasonably afford.

“And therefore, the pricing order does have an important capacity to address the failure to reach an agreement on supply,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

On Tuesday, the gas production industry hit back at suggestions suppliers have been deliberately dodging the government’s new price cap by waiting for advice on how it works.

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Samantha McCulloch said implementing the cap was quite complex and companies were worried about incurring a $50 million fine for missing the mark.

The federal opposition has called for a greater focus on boosting supply rather than capping price.

– AAP

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