Day 54: 'Tired of talk'
An introductory weekday newsletter from Schwartz Media. Counting the days since Australia had an energy policy.
Good morning and welcome to day 54.
Today in summary: The government should trust its own experts on energy policy, and let them get on with the job of repairing the sector says Energy Australia chief Catherine Tanna; Prime Minister Scott Morrison is having no talk of energy '“anarchy”; and Energy Networks Australia wants the law to change to allow rural and remote energy customers to buy off-grid solutions from network providers.
— Charis
Today’s policy spin level: 💨💨💨💨
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Politics is making it very hard for good politicians to do the right thing, Energy Australia chief Catherine Tanna said yesterday, in a speech condemning the government for failing to share the burden of restoring trust in the energy sector.
“The truth is that I’m getting tired of talk..and calls for stability are now becoming background noise, too easily brushed aside in a populist energy debate. Still, an orderly transition to new forms of power is as relevant and critical as ever.”
Tanna said rather than “lurch from one expensive review after another and create new regulations and rules,” the government should just trust the independent agencies it already has.
The ACCC, led by Rod Sims, the Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, the AMEC, the AER and AEMO. The government’s apparent lack of trust in these institutions - its own experts - is hard to fathom.”
Tanna said there was plenty of blame to go around for the so-called energy crisis, reminding people the ACCC report also criticised the lack of comprehensive government policy.
“Every method we have of generating energy has its own distinct impacts on people and the environment, advantages and drawbacks to be managed. Once they’re in the system, there is no difference between the electrons produced by a wind turbine or by a coal plant, but there is a world of consequence between having a thoughtful, national energy framework, and not.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison used the term “rubbish” to describe Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott’s description of the energy policy situation as “anarchy”.
“I don't agree with that at all. I think that's rubbish.”
On uncertainty on the government’s emission reduction targets, he said:
"Everybody knows what they are and we're meeting them."
Network industry peak body Energy Networks Australia is calling for regulation change to allow network businesses to install standalone power systems for some rural and remote energy customers. CEO Andrew Dillon pointed to the inefficient cost and price impact of poles and wires for serving small groups of regional and remote customers.
“It’s no coincidence the recent ACCC report called for immediate work to identify and implement changes to allow more standalone power systems to be installed,” he said.
The Australian Energy Market Commission is currently reviewing regulatory frameworks for standalone power systems.
The Commentariat
Australian industry and political leaders should be upfront with the community about the magnitude of the emissions reduction task, writes Chief Scientist Alan Finkel. “In a word, it is huge.”
“Driving change of this magnitude, across all societies, in fundamental matters like the homes we build and the foods we eat, will only succeed if we give it time – and avoid the inevitable backlash from pushing too fast.”
Australia’s gas market, and the country, is suffering from a “failure to launch,” writes the Australian Financial Review’s Jennifer Hewett, with the government ruling out the subsidies and domestic price controls Australia’s heavy industry is crying out for. A proposal backed by Andrew Forrest to import gas to the east coast is by also no means assured.
“The government has to defend the massive economic benefits that come from Australia becoming the world's second largest exporter of LNG – worth almost $50 billion next year – but with domestic gas prices now linked to international prices for LNG.”
Three more things
Low‐income households spend around 6.4% of their income on energy (up from 5.9% in 2008), according to new research by ANU, commissioned by the Australian Council of Social Service and the Brotherhood of St Laurence. A quarter of low-income households spend 8.8%, compared with the highest earning households who spend only 1.5%.
Search giant Google, which says it is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, released a report detailing how it will eventually power its data centres with entirely carbon-free electricity.
Billionaire and potential US presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is reportedly behind a push to place lawyers in the offices of Democratic state attorneys general and paying them to prosecute energy companies and challenge Trump administration policies on energy and the environment.
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