Green Energy
- Bree Forecasts $189 Billion And Then Some
The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) has published its quarterly forecasting of the country’s resources and energy commodity export earnings for the 2012-13 year, which are now tipped to be in excess of $189 billion. The Resources and...
- Energy Market Reforms Argued
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has argued that energy market reform is crucial to keeping power prices down. In its submission to the Senate Select Committee on Electricity Prices, the CEC has argued that rules that underpin how the electricity industry...
- Consumers At Fault As Well Say Chiefs Are Prices Soar
As soaring electricity prices bedevil households, industry leaders say consumers are just as responsible for increasing costs as the bodies that supply, deliver and regulate power. In rare public comments, they say the way to save money is to use less...
- 80,000 South Aussies Switch On To Solar
A new report from the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) estimates 80,000 electricity customers in the state will have installed solar panels by December this year. This figure represents around 10% of all small electricity customers...
- Australian Carbon Tax Not Too Burdensome On Energy Bills - Origin Ceo
By Ross Kelly Published Dow Jones Newswires SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- Australia's carbon tax won't have a significant impact on the country's household electricity prices, which will remain competitive with those in other developed countries, the...
Green Energy
Power pricing surge
Charges 70 per cent higher than the American average
A figure that will grow to 160 per cent in two years
Exposes myth that Australian electricity is relatively cheap
AUSTRALIANS pay 130 per cent more for electricity than Canadians, according to new research – a power premium to rise to 250 per cent once the carbon tax and locked-in price increases take effect.
A figure that will grow to 160 per cent in two years
Exposes myth that Australian electricity is relatively cheap
AUSTRALIANS pay 130 per cent more for electricity than Canadians, according to new research – a power premium to rise to 250 per cent once the carbon tax and locked-in price increases take effect.
The research, which will be made public today, claims household charges are already 70 per cent higher than the American average, a figure that will grow to 160 per cent in two years. Japanese, British, French, Irish and New Zealanders all pay less than we do.
The research forms the basis of a report to the Energy Users Association of Australia – which represents 100 big power users including BHP, RailCorp, Coles, the Commonwealth Bank and Brisbane City Council – and argues the way power prices are set must be urgently reformed.
The EUAA will also use the research to claim it exposes as a myth that Australian electricity is relatively cheap.
Energy Minister Martin Ferguson recently said Australians pay less than the OECD average, relying on a document called Energy In Australia 2012, which his department’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) published three weeks ago. The document uses electricity prices from 2009-10.
“That data is old,” EUAA executive director Roman Domanski told The Daily Telegraph last night. In 2010-11 alone the national price rose by 16 per cent; the NSW jump was 23 per cent. The numbers used to compile the document Mr Ferguson relied on put the NSW average at 18.55c/kWh. But in the real world, households are paying regulated rates as high as 28c/kWh.
The average New South Wales household’s annual cost for electricity would fall from $1700 to less than $700 if our prices were the same as in Canada.
Mr Domanski said: “Add in the carbon tax from July, further network price increases and renewable energy subsidies and inevitably our prices are pushed to the point where they are challenging Denmark and Germany as the most expensive in the world.” The report to the EUAA, produced by Carbon Market Economics, found Australian power prices had risen about 40 per cent since 2007 and would rise by another 30 per cent over the next two years.
It found that, even using 2007 currency exchange rates, Australian households still paid more than those in Japan, US, Canada and the average of the EU. Carbon Market Economics comparison of prices in 92 jurisdictions – including more than 35 countries, American states and all Australian states and territories – found NSW ranked fourth behind Denmark, Germany and South Australia. Victoria was fifth and Western Australia was sixth. The ACT was 21st.
In explaining why BREE used figures dating back to 2009, energy manager Allison Ball said Australian Energy Market Commission data wasn’t available until late 2011 and global 2011 statistics from the International Energy Agency were still not available.
However, The Telegraph understands Carbon Market Economics used 2011 IEA figures published before Mr Ferguson claimed Australian prices were below the OECD average.
Melrose Park mother-of-two Leanne Imbro said her family’s last bill had jumped to about $700. She said she has been reassessing her children’s extra-curricular activities.
- Bree Forecasts $189 Billion And Then Some
The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) has published its quarterly forecasting of the country’s resources and energy commodity export earnings for the 2012-13 year, which are now tipped to be in excess of $189 billion. The Resources and...
- Energy Market Reforms Argued
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has argued that energy market reform is crucial to keeping power prices down. In its submission to the Senate Select Committee on Electricity Prices, the CEC has argued that rules that underpin how the electricity industry...
- Consumers At Fault As Well Say Chiefs Are Prices Soar
As soaring electricity prices bedevil households, industry leaders say consumers are just as responsible for increasing costs as the bodies that supply, deliver and regulate power. In rare public comments, they say the way to save money is to use less...
- 80,000 South Aussies Switch On To Solar
A new report from the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) estimates 80,000 electricity customers in the state will have installed solar panels by December this year. This figure represents around 10% of all small electricity customers...
- Australian Carbon Tax Not Too Burdensome On Energy Bills - Origin Ceo
By Ross Kelly Published Dow Jones Newswires SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- Australia's carbon tax won't have a significant impact on the country's household electricity prices, which will remain competitive with those in other developed countries, the...