Coalition’s sweetener in energy wrangle

THE Federal Government will provide economic modelling to the Labor Party and state ministers backing up its claim of household power savings of $115 a year, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says.

Mr Frydenberg says the modelling would be provided to the federal Opposition and state governments before next month’s Council of Australian Governments meeting.

“It’s in the country’s interests and it’s in the states’ interest to get on board with this expert recommendation,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC TV.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has appealed to Labor and the states to discuss ways of implementing the Government’s national energy guarantee.

Mr Frydenberg said he understood the reluctance to support the policy without modelling, but believed that the Opposition had been caught flat-footed by last week’s announcement.

The Government is spruiking savings of an average of $110 to $115 a year over the period between 2020 to 2030.

But the Opposition has accused it of giving away Australia’s renewable energy industry in return for a possible 50 cents-a-week saving on household power bills.

Mr Frydenberg said the policy would guarantee the energy network’s reliability and Australia’s ability to meet the Paris climate change agreement, but stopped short of assuring a drop in prices.

“We are absolutely confident the prices will come down because that’s the best advice of the Energy Security Board, which represents the best experts in the field,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Labor’s junior spokesman for manufacturing and science, Nick Champion, said there were many unanswered questions about the energy package.