Cheap power is finished: Alinta

Australians will pay more for power in coming years as the country struggles to build adequate replacements, Alinta Energy boss Jeff Dimery says.

The stark appraisal, described by Mr Dimery as “truths and straight talking”, comes amid growing concern about the toll of Australia’s energy transition as Australia’s ageing coal plants near the end of their technical lifespan.

Mr Dimery said stakeholders must be honest about the toll of the transition.

“Australians will have to pay more for energy in the future. We will spend more as a percentage of GDP on energy, energy services, and energy infrastructure,” Mr Dimery said in a speech in Canberra.

“Whether we pay through our taxes, or pay the large upfront costs of an EV, or batteries and solar … or we’re paying more for electricity from the grid – we’ll all pay more in the aggregate. We need to be honest about that, and, I don’t think the average Australian is prepared for that reality.”

Mr Dimery’s comments will elevate tensions between Alinta and the federal Labor government, which came to power promising to cut power prices by $275 a year by 2025. Power bills have, however, surged in recent years.

Labor insists its plan to rapidly accelerate the development of renewable energy will lower household and business bills, and an increase in zero emission generation has put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices. Labor has set an aggressive target of having renewable energy generate more than 80 per cent of Australia’s electricity by 2030.

Mr Dimery, however, said there were significant inhibitors to new renewable energy being built, and even if those could be overcome – the electricity produced would be far more expensive.

While the comments may be seized on by the Coalition, which has proposed developing nuclear energy, Mr Dimery offered a thinly veiled rebuke.

“This means maintaining clear public policy, and not getting distracted with new ideas without a firm social mandate,” he said.