Of course we would all like to have cheaper power bills and the government has a plan, which I am not even going to try to understand. One former Prime Minister (Turnbull I think), playing to gallery of the conservatives (and coal energy shareholders), spoke of the need for new coal fired power stations to prevent the blackouts and restrictions we have faced.
What blackouts and restrictions? When was this? The only power blackouts have been caused by weather or small infrastructure failure. In the massive South Australian blackout, a couple of years ago was it, it was weather, small infrastructure failure and poor management decisions.
This was mostly written last year and not published. I am not sure where I was going with it, but I consider it useful enough to publish. This summer in Victoria we did have on afternoon of some suburbs being blacked out, as our coal fired power stations collapsed under the strain during a short hot spell, along with some being out of service for regular maintenance. Why do that when the weather is hot? They do take some time to wind down and start up again, but even so.
To also note, South Australia's large power storage battery, built by electric car maker Elon Musk is performing very well. Now everyone wants a big battery.
The paste below is from the website of the Australian Energy Regulator and defines its role in our energy system. So if you think your power is too expensive, this is where the price is decided, or at least allows a price to be decided by resellers.
I can't remember where the paste came from comparing our prices to those overseas, but it is rather shocking. We are paying just under 20 cents/kWh. Mother was paying about 28 cents. She was not in a position to bargain. Our electricity costs nearly 200% more than Canadians pay. The amount AER decides that a network can recover from customers and that the AER does not set prices is rather a moot point from my point of view.
In 2011/12 average household electricity prices in Australia (just under 25 cents/kWh) were 12% higher than average prices in Japan, 33% higher than the EU, 122% higher than the U.S. and 194% higher than Canada.
- The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) works to make all Australian energy consumers better off, now and in the future.
- We regulate electricity networks and covered gas pipelines, in all jurisdictions except Western Australia. We set the amount of revenue that network businesses can recover from customers for using these networks.
- We enforce the laws for the National Electricity Market and spot gas markets in southern and eastern Australia. We monitor and report on the conduct of energy businesses and the effectiveness of competition.
- We protect the interests of household and small business consumers by enforcing the Retail Law. Our retail energy market functions cover New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Queensland. We do not set the prices consumers pay.
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