6 years ago
HIGHER ELECTRICITY PRICES
THE HON MARK BUTLER MP
A report released today by respected electricity sector experts Reputex, confirms:
- Australia’s renewable energy future is inevitable, with 42 percent of electricity projected to come from renewables by 2030 even without any pro-renewables national electricity policy,
- The Government’s 26 percent emissions target under the NEG will have a “negligible impact in driving any new renewables investment”,
- A 45 percent emission reduction target would drive renewable investment to 50 percent of generation by 2030,
- A 45 percent NEG target would result in wholesale electricity prices by 2030 that are 25 percent lower than the 26 percent NEG due to substantially greater renewable energy supply.
This report is a significant blow to the Turnbull Government and their baseless anti-renewables fear campaign. Not only does it confirms that Labor’s 50 percent 2030 renewable energy target is achievable and responsible, but it also confirms it will deliver cleaner and cheaper power, with more jobs and investment.
There is little doubt that even when confronted with this evidence, the Turnbull Government will maintain their desperate ideological attack on renewable energy by insisting on locking in weak ambition into their NEG until 2030. In doing so, the Government will be ignoring the concerns of stakeholders from the electricity industry, to the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers’ Federation, the Investor Group on Climate Change, as well as climate and Labour groups, who all call for this approach to be abandoned.
If the Government wants to deliver a NEG that will lower prices and provide investment certainty, they need to drop their utterly ineffectual locked in 26 percent pollution reduction targets and like Labor, adopt a policy that will drive new investment in renewable energy through the 2020s.
Every day Prime Minister Turnbull sticks to his weak anti-renewables NEG is another day former Prime Minister Abbott and his ilk dictate this Government’s energy policy.
Australians desperately need and deserve better.