Electricity Price Rises Feature on Ch 9 Today
Show (16/1/12)
Channel 9's
Today Show screened on Monday 16th
January featured an item by finance expert Ross
Greenwood on electricity price rises. The item
explained the 3 main causes of the increases – network
charges, the carbon tax and renewable energy costs. To
view the item click
here.
Power
Price Rises Now Being (Erroneously) Linked to Keeping
the Lights On
(16/1/12)
In front
page report on Sunday 15th January, the 'Sunday
Telegraph' reports that power price increases are now
being linked to ensuring that electricity supply is
maintained. The article refers to comments from the ACCC
Chair Mr Rod Sims. The EUAA believes that the main
reason for the increases to date have been a combination
of poor regulation, inefficient government owned
networks, excessive rates of return provided to networks
excessive & renewable energy subsidies. Reliability
standards have played a part but are not the main reason
for the increases. Any suggestion that the price
increases can be justified to 'keep the lights on' is
fallacious. See the article
here
EUAA Press Release
Renewable Energy Schemes Set to
Force up Electricity Bills Again in 2012
(3/1/12)
The Energy
Users Association of Australia (EUAA) has drawn
attention to its concerns about another increase in the
cost of renewable energy that will push up electricity
prices next year. The Association has recently
investigated the likely cost of the Small-scale
Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and the Large-scale
Renewable Energy Target (LRET) on electricity prices for
2012.........press release can be downloaded
here.
Please also see newspaper
article in 'The Australian' 29/12/11
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/carbon-plan/peak-power-body-predicts-power-price-hikes/story-fn99tjf2-1226232181053
and story on 'Today Tonight'
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/money/article/-/12470010/power-prices/#video
EUAA Members Meeting 17 November, Brisbane - Guest
Speakers (28/11/11)
Please
see link as under to our 2 guest speakers’ presentations
at our Members meeting on Thursday 17th
November in Brisbane. Also see link to the EUAA
presentation on the
electricity price & market update.
1. Guest
speaker # 1: Markus Hüwener, CEO, First Climate (Europe)
Topic: Carbon Offsets
and How to Make Use of Them to Manage Your Carbon Costs
Markus is
an international speaker with exposure to the EU
emission trading scheme, international carbon
trading and carbon offsets.
2. Guest
speaker # 2: Stuart Bell, Regulatory Reset Manager,
Powerlink
Topic:
Powerlink’s Regulatory Reset Proposal, Future
Transmission Charges & the Transmission Challenges Ahead
Electricity Prices Continue to Rise (7/11/11)
The latest
Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index
(PPI) information released by the Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) confirm that electricity prices have
continued to rise by large and disturbing amounts over
the past year both nationally and in all States.
Consumer electricity prices saw 10 to 20+ per cent
increases in most Capital Cities over the past year.
Nationally for manufacturing, an area of the economy
under severe pressure, electricity prices rose by 10 per
cent and gas prices by 6.3 per cent.
“The level
of electricity price increases we are seeing across the
country continue to be of major concern. This is the
third year in a row that large price increases have been
seen. Some of the increases are truly staggering and of
major concern,” Mr Roman Domanski, Executive Director of
the Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA) said in
commenting of the ABS price numbers. “In Adelaide, we
have seen a 48 per cent increase in two years, in Hobart
42 percent, in Melbourne 22 per cent and nationally 24
per cent.” Download the Press Release
here.
Changes to the National Electricity Rules Proposed to
Make Electricity Prices Fairer & Lower (7/11/11)
Australia’s
energy users have seen significant increases in their
electricity prices in recent years. The increases have
frequently been in the order of 10-20 per cent per annum
and have significantly impacted the cost of doing
business and the costs of living for households.
Network prices, i.e. the prices charged to transport
power across poles and wires, make up half of the
electricity bill and have been by far-and-away the main
contributing factor to the price increases.
“Many
independent experts, as well as the Australian Energy
Regulator (AER), have concluded that there are flaws in
the existing Rules for determining network charges and
that this is resulting in network prices that are higher
than they should be,” Mr. Roman Domanski, Executive
Director of the Energy Users Association of Australia
(EUAA) said. “The EUAA has recognized this need for
some time as a result of its extensive work in the
area. Changing these rules is important for getting
fairer and lower network prices.”
In a new
development, the AEMC has published a proposal to change
the National Electricity Rules (the Rules) that has been
submitted to it by ‘the Rule Change Committee’. The
Committee is made up of and supported by seven
companies, Amcor, Australian Paper, Rio Tinto, Simplot,
Wesfarmers, Westfield and Woolworths, all of whom are
EUAA members. It is estimated that the proposals would,
over time, see average electricity price reductions of
around 6 per cent.
This is the
first rule change proposal, of more than 160 so far, to
come directly from energy users,” Mr. Domanski, said.
“The EUAA believes that this is an indication of the
level of concern felt by energy users about the flaws in
the existing regulatory regime and the need for
something to be done to correct them.”
Download
the Press Release
here.
The Committee’s proposed changes to the rules and
supporting information can be downloaded from the AEMC’s
web site
here.
Effective Energy Reform Can Prevent Large Energy Price
Rises (18/10/11)
Australia still needs to lift its game on energy reform
if it is to avoid the negative economic consequences
that will come from energy price pressures that could
push the cost of electricity to double what it is today
by 2015 and triple prices by the end of this decade.
This is a key conclusion from the second Scorecard
on energy reform released today by the Energy Users
Association of Australia (EUAA)
Download the Press Release
here and
Download the Report
here
New Report Finds that Electricity Users are Paying Big
Costs to Support Renewable Energy
(18/10/11)
Federal
and State Governments have put in place significant
polices to encourage the development of renewable
energy, most notably the 20 per cent Renewable Energy
Target and State/Territory support for small scale
solar. These schemes are paid for by energy users and
are having a significant impact on electricity prices.
Electricity users are concerned about the rising cost
of these schemes, so the Energy Users Association of
Australia (EUAA) commissioned Carbon Market Economics
(CME) to quantify existing subsidies and assess what
they had achieved. The Report entitled, Renewable Electricity in Australia – outcomes and prospects,
was released today at the EUAA’s Annual Conference,
Australian Energy User, 2011, in Melbourne.
“CME
estimated that around $12bn of subsidy has been paid or
is payable for renewable capacity that was added between
2001 and the end of 2010,” Mr Roman Domanski, the
Executive Director of the EUAA said in releasing the
report. “Electricity consumers will bear around 87% of
this amount. Moreover, the report concluded that there
is little to show for subsidies that have been paid. In
other words, the greenhouse gas abatement that will be
achieved through renewable subsidies has so far come at
considerable expense with little benefit in terms of
reduced emissions.”
The
report can be downloaded
here and a Press
Release
here.
EUAA
Submission - Demand Side Participation - The Power of
Choice (Stage 3) Issues Paper (3/10/11)
This
submission to the AEMC sets out the EUAA's view on the
importance of Demand Side Participation. Members
can read more
here
New
Members 16/09/11)
We are
pleased to announce
C3,
Energy Intelligence,
and Mr Grant Caldwell as
the latest members to join the EUAA. Please join
us in welcoming them to the Association.
Member Briefing - The Clean Energy Future Package (CEFP) & its Impact on Energy Users
13/09/11)
This member
briefing seeks to explain the main elements of the CEFP
and how energy users are impacted. Members can
read read more
here
