Balance of power now with pollies on energy costs

I AM one of hundreds of linesmen and their assistants under the control of engineers who developed the North Queensland Electricity Network, supplying towns and farmers who wanted power over 30 years ago, when I left the industry after working over 40 years in it.

Now we are in the hands of politicians who are trying to balance their State and Federal budgets.

We are also in the development of clean energy and using solar and wind.

It is the cost of this energy that’s causing our power bills to be so high as the Federal Government is paying for them through their accounts systems and then tacked on to the bills after States have kept the profits and also slide billions of state taxes on to their accounts.

Now these new clean energy components have possible 25- year lives and they must be replaced and the rejects dumped somewhere, possibly an old mine.

Do not forget the hundreds of Chinese who are involved in the manufac- ture of electrical components dying from blood cancer. Is this the aim of Governments to keep dumping old solar panels over the next 100 years or more?

When I installed my solar panels in 2009 and at a meeting in Townsville in 2013 I was classified as a parasite as many people would not be able to install similar projects as mine cost $ 30,000 to install and I had carefully calculated I would get all my power through the system set up by government.

Now people can install solar for almost nothing as the governments are covering the cost and making those all now pay a much higher tariff and cost.

It could be fraud on the governments who are doing it.

Just remember politicians are not engineers.

One would think they own the system but they belong to the public who paid for them and therefore get off the gravy train. GARTH HARRIGAN, Aitkenvale.