[LINK] Electricity prices

[Michael Skeggs mike@bystander.net]

On 23 March 2012 02:55,  <stephen at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
>
>
> So we are fifth. Victoria de-regulated power retail-arms several years
> ago. Yet charges have risen significantly in the same time period. And
> we are told they will rise yet again by anything up to 30% on July 1st.
>
> We're also told the Victorian 'Smart Meter' required, and paid for, at
> our house does NOT support back-feeding solar power to the local grids.
> We had no choice as to this meter, it is the standard issue. Brilliant.
>
> Personally we always pay from $94 to $96 per month so it's no big deal
> for us. But there are people here to whom it DOES matter let alone for
> long-suffering Victorian manufacturing in trying to remain competitive.
>
> Deregulation will reduce these high charges? Not in our Vic experience.
> We can reduce by installing solar panels? No. And soon, the carbon tax.
>
> What's not to be peeved about? Not for us personally, but for Victoria.
>
> Any thinking expensive power is good for the environment and therefore
> a necessary initiative sure do seem to have quite limited perspectives.
>
> This situation is farcial.
>
> Regards,
> Stephen
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Hi Stephen,
I hope you won't take this as a personal attack, as I value your
postings to LINK, but I think you might need to consider your ideas
about power pricing a little more closely.
While it is true we rate fifth-ish amongst OECD countries considered
in this report, a lot of that is due to the relatively recent run up
in the value of the AUD$. At historical levels, that have averaged
around 75c to the USD, Australia rates as a comparatively cheap
electricity supply location.
Of course, if the above parity dollar value is here to stay, then lots
of industries will need to reconsider how they stack up globally. And
luckily, the report shows even with recent currency swings we are
still in the ball park of OECD power prices.
In the future, I'm hoping we are able to deliver business products and
services that will make Australia a great nation, but I think it is
short sighted to rest those hopes on lower prices for energy, when
energy is going to be in increasingly short supply.
I understand this is cold comfort to manufacturers that have built
their business case on continued low energy prices, and it is very
distressing to people who have found themselves in the crosshairs of
redundancies and globalisation driven cost cutting, but as a nation,
we need to be spending the bounty we have accumulated on training and
developing our people, not subsidising our past.
Of course, I say this without having had a father laid off from the
production line or being myself a victim of off-shoring (well, some of
my colleagues have been off shored) so it is with some faith in the
authorities on economics that I argue this angle.
Regards,
Michael Skeggs