01/05/24
The following responds to news that the NSW State Government will extend the life of Eraring Power Station and statements from Energy Minister Chris Bowen acknowledging the importance of gas.
Labor has made a total mess of Australia’s energy market.
The extension of Eraring is further evidence that the Albanese Government’s all-eggs-in-one-basket ‘renewables only’ plan is failing.
Labor is driving 90% of Australia’s 24/7 reliable baseload energy out of the system over the next decade, with no guarantee of a replacement while also strangling the supply of gas.
As a resource rich nation, it’s pure insanity to dismantle Australia’s competitive advantage in cheap, reliable energy by winding down our ‘always on’ 24/7 electricity system in favour of a weather dependent ‘sometimes on’ system.
Unfortunately, it’s Australian households and industry that are suffering the consequences.
- Despite being promised a reduction in household energy bills by $275, Australian households are now paying up to $1,000 a year more than promised, among the highest electricity prices in the world, for increasingly unreliable power.
- Australian manufacturers are going to the wall with insolvencies tripling over recent months.
Minister Bowen’s reference to gas in his keynote speech today said nothing.
Bowen can roll out all the empty platitudes he likes in front of industry, but it is notable that he still has failed to present any policy ideas on how to increase supply.
A full-blown energy crisis and a tsunami of insolvencies is the only thing Labor will make in Australia and it’s only getting worse.
The NSW State Government has shown pragmatism in extending the life of Eraring and keeping the lights on for longer on the East Coast despite pressure from Federal Labor.
It’s telling of Bowen’s complete lack of understanding of Australia’s energy market that he was predicting the power station’s life would be extended, if at all, by ‘months, not years’.
A four-year extension has been reported.