ACCC will not oppose BPR increase

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced that it will not object to Australia Post's proposal to increase the prices of ordinary letter services, including the basic postage rate (BPR) from 60 cents to 70 cents.“The ACCC is satisfied that the price rises will not result in Australia Post over recovering the efficient costs of providing monopoly letter services,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.“The ACCC found that there is increasing financial pressure on Australia Post’s letter services as a result of fewer letters being sent. Australia Post is currently under recovering on its reserved services costs. The magnitude of the under recovery is such that even with the proposed price increase, Australia Post is unlikely to recover more than an efficient level of costs.”Australia Post must now give written notice to the Minister for Communications of its intent to increase the BPR. Australia Post may increase the BPR only if the Minister does not disapprove the proposed increase to the BPR within 30 days of receiving notification from Australia Post.The increase to the BPR is scheduled to take effect from 31 March 2014.