Light at end of energy plan tunnel

LABOR has signalled it may back Malcolm Turnbull’s new plan to stop blackouts and drive down power prices, despite earlier labelling it a ‘joke’.

But in a sign it won’t be an easy or guaranteed win, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten again slammed the lack of available detail.

If federal Labor does back the strategy, which puts new obligations on energy companies AGL, Origin and Energy Australia, it would bring almost 10 years of political deadlock on energy policy to an end.

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke told Sky News yesterday the policy “might end up being something Labor can support”.

“It may well be that what we have in front of us is an emissions intensity scheme managed by the energy retailers rather than managed by the government,” he said.

A few hours later, Mr Shorten moved to quash any sign Labor would roll over easily and support the National Energy Guarantee.

“This plan has got a lot of problems with it – no detailed modelling, no guarantee on lowering prices, no great hope for the renewable industry ... and renewable energy jobs,” he told reporters in Canberra.

After calling the plan a “joke” on Wednesday, he again accused Mr Turnbull of caving to backbench pressure to keep his job.

“This is a hostage note written by Malcolm Turnbull to Tony Abbott – ‘please stop brutalising my energy policies, I’ll give you everything you want’,” he said.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg bristled when asked whether the government’s plan could be interpreted as anything like Labor’s carbon tax.

“Two letters: NO,” he told Sky News.

The government needs Labor’s support in parliament to set a national emissions reduction target, which is one plank of Prime Minister Turnbull’s plan.

But the bigger hurdle will be the Labor premiers in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, who have to sign off on the key part of the NEG.

The premiers have already indicated they don’t support the plan, which would force energy companies to meet a reliability and an emissions guarantee.

The reliability guarantee, designed to prevent blackouts, would force retailers to provide to each state a set amount of dispatchable power from sources such as coal, gas, pumped hydro and batteries.

Energy companies would also have to source a certain amount of power from clean energy generators to meet the emissions guarantee or face deregistration from the market.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said the Opposition would need to see more details before supporting the policy.

“From the eight pages of policy we have, this policy has hairs all over it,” she told ABC radio.