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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
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| Sandra Kanck Deputy Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
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Monday 26th March 2001
GET RID OF LUCAS: APPOINT A SPECIAL MINISTER FOR ELECTRICITY SUPPLY
The Australian Democrats will move in State Parliament this week for the Premier to strip the Treasurer, Rob Lucas, of responsibility for electricity and appoint a Special Minister for Electricity Supply.
"Confirmation that up to 3000 South Australian businesses face 30 per cent hikes in the price of electricity illustrates the complete and total failure of the privatisation process," says Sandra Kanck, Democrats Deputy Leader.
"The State Government promised the people of South Australia cheaper power if ETSA was privatised. It has delivered more expensive power to 3000 business customers and in all probability household electricity bills will jump by the same amount in January 2003.
"The Treasurer had responsibility for the carriage of the privatisation process, the Treasurer must pay the price of inflicting increased electricity costs on South Australian businesses.
"He has repeatedly failed to grasp the reality of the situation that confronts him."
At the beginning of the privatisation debate the Treasurer claimed his Government’s electricity policy was to "place as much downward pressure on prices as we can." (Hansard, 2 July 1998, p 934)
"The fact that last year the average pool price for electricity in January soared by more than 200 per cent from January 2000 damns the Treasurer and his Government’s policies," Ms Kanck says.
"The Government’s failure to ensure supply of electricity kept pace with the growth in demand lies at the heart of these extraordinary figures."
The Treasurer has also failed to follow through on promises that if kept would have significantly eased the current supply problem. In 1998 the Treasurer promised a Sustainable Energy Agency to "promote green solutions for South Australia’s energy needs." (Media Release, 30 June 1998)
"Today no SEA exists and the production of green energy in South Australia is negligible. Given that our peak use of electricity coincides with the blazing sun the failure of the Government to actively encourage solar energy is disgraceful.
"In his naive faith in the market to resolve these complex problems the Treasurer hoped to privatise responsibility for the cost and reliability of electricity. But even in a privatised system, government retains ultimate responsibility its delivery. The Government can’t bury its head in the sand any longer.
"If we don’t get a hands on approach now, next summer will be a nightmare."
As a priority the new Special Minister for Energy must:
intercede on behalf of business customers attempting to negotiate contracts to ensure they receive electricity at the lowest possible price,
monitor generator activity for abuse of market power,
coordinate demand management initiatives to reduce the consumption of electricity during peak periods,
investigate the viability of Business SA proposals to use embedded generators to supplement the grid during peak periods,
establish a Sustainable Energy Agency to effectively promote the production of green energy,
seriously investigate putting our clocks back half an hour to create different peaking time in SA and Victoria thereby maximising the effectiveness of the interconnect,
act to secure adequate supplies of electricity for the summer of 2002/2003 and beyond.
"The Premier’s decision to set up a task force too examine the effects of the national market is too little too late for the 3000 electricity consumers about to be asked to pay exorbitant prices for electricity.
"We need a strong decisive Minister to take control of the situation or we face a Californian type disaster."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Sandra Kanck
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