Power price cut exposes myth of inability to act

THE posturing of the State Government over power prices should be leaving a very sour taste in the mouths of regional Queenslanders who are budgeting for yet another rise in their electricity bills.

Trying to paint itself as the good guy this time around, the Government has stepped in to cut by half the increases proposed by the Queensland Competition Authority ( QCA).

So, household bills will go up by 3.3 per cent instead of 7.1 per cent. We are expecting that this means that bills for farmers who irrigate will go up 5 per cent and not the 10 per cent the QCA had determined.

QCA’s proposed price increases would have boosted the State Government’s coffers by almost $ 1.5 billion over the next three years. Halve that, and the Government bottom line is still boosted by $ 700 million from Ergon over that time.

This is still a huge hike and it must be remembered it is money from the electricity bills that regional Queenslanders struggle to pay. It is in effect a hidden tax from the households and businesses of Queensland. This latest episode shows that, despite the denials by successive administrations over many years, the Queensland Government does have the power to intervene in electricity pricing.

No longer can it pass the buck of outrageous electricity price rises to the Queensland Competition Authority or the Australian Energy Regulator.

By intervening this time, and making such a song and dance of it, the Government has revealed it could have done this earlier.

It has shown that it can act to knock the waste and inaccurate accounting out of the system and ensure that we are charged a fair price for the electricity services being delivered.

Canegrowers, and regional Queensland, expect and deserve nothing less. DAN GALLIGAN, Canegrowers CEO.