[LINK] Electricity prices

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

"Australians Now Pay Near to the Highest Electricity Prices in the World"

http://www.euaa.com.au/whats_new/index.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3460106.htm
                         

A new paper, Australian Electricity Prices: an International Comparison, 
commissioned by the EUAA and released today shows that Australia’s 
electricity prices are very near to the highest in the developed world, 
and, seemingly set to reach the highest. 

"In some cases the average household electricity bill, charged at just 
under 25 cents per kilowat hour in 2011/12, is 194 per cent more than 
that of Canadians and 122 per cent higher than those of Americans."


“The paper compares household electricity prices in 91 jurisdictions 
including all eight Australian states and territories. The report found 
that average household electricity prices in Australia are now higher 
than those in Japan, the European Union, the United States of America and 
Canada. 

In 2011, household electricity prices in four of Australia’s eight 
State/Territories were in the top six countries, states and provinces 
included in the comparison. South Australia ranked third highest, New 
South Wales fourth, Victoria fifth and Western Australia sixth. 

This means that three-quarters of Australia’s population are paying 
electricity prices that are among the six highest in the developed world. 

Only Tasmania (eleventh), Queensland (sixteenth), the ACT (twenty-first) 
and the Northern Territory (twenty-ninth) lie outside of the top ten, but 
they still rank in the top one-third,” Mr. Domanski commented.

“These results pre-date the carbon tax that will commence on 1st July and 
add further to electricity price increases. The results also show that 
Australia’s prices can be expected to increase further and significantly 
in the next few years, which is likely to make our electricity prices the 
highest in the world.”

Mr Domanski pointed out that Australia’s abundance of fossil fuels, long-
established production facilities and relatively inexpensive overhead 
power lines should place it at an advantage compared to resource-
constrained and higher cost countries and for a long time were a 
competitive strength.

“Electricity consumers in Australia rightly expected to pay prices 
reflecting these advantages and should still be doing so,” he said.

“The electricity reforms of the 1990s supported our competitive advantage 
in energy but little has been done since. Government statistics show that 
productivity in the electricity sector has been lagging badly and it is 
widely acknowledged that network charges to transport electricity 
over ‘poles and wires’ are excessive. They make up half the average 
electricity bill and are the main contributor to the large price 
increases we’ve seen,” he went on to say.

“We are sending this paper to all Governments and politicians in 
Australia – Federal, State and Territory – along with a call for all 
governments, politicians and decision-makers to act decisively to reverse 
this disturbing outcome,” he concluded.
--

Cheers,
Stephen