Green Buzz in the Power Lines
1. Why Price Rises? 2. TEC goals 3. Solutions and you
TEC is working to make Australia’s electricity network green as well as affordable.
POWER PROBLEM
Electricity is becoming unnecessarily expensive in Australia compared to other countries. The biggest contributor to rising prices is our high-profit-focused energy market. It has become divorced from the long term financial and environmental interests of consumers. Instead of making decisions based on the least-costly, most environmentally beneficial approach, the utilities want us to use more and pay more. They have opposed the introduction of big energy efficiency programs and even obstructed councils who want to install efficient street lights. They’ve also pushed for massive new investment in the ‘poles and wires’ that get the electricity from power stations to our homes and businesses. The companies in the National Electricity Market have been making lots of money under the existing setup. They don’t want it to change. It’s also true that the carbon price, the renewable energy target and other ‘green schemes’ have contributed only a small part to rising prices. But they are investments in our future, as we shift from polluting coal and gas to renewable energy.
What is TEC doing about it?
TEC has been working for nearly a decade to change Australia’s electricity market, chipping away at bureaucrats, politicians and the media. We have already made a difference. A new network is starting to emerge which is still safe and reliable, but also greener, and which offers consumers more control over their own energy needs.
Our focus is on:
– encouraging people and businesses to use less energy and be more efficient
– increasing the amount of green energy generation
– using less energy at peak times when it is more expensive
– fixing the National Electricity Market so it does not stand in the way of efficiency and green power.
High bills, more rooftop solar and other factors are already reducing the amount of electricity that homes and businesses are using. This trend is likely to continue, and it can happen without bills getting even higher.
What you can do
Write to your state and federal MP and state energy minister, demanding they make electricity affordable but also greener. Remind them that energy efficiency and reducing peak demand are usually the cheapest ways to meet both these goals.
Support local businesses that are promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, and ask your council what it is doing.
Join a community group that is working on renewable energy projects in your area.
Challenge any new network projects in your area – or talk to us about whether they are really needed.
Check out this site for more information as we update it, and donate to TEC’s green energy campaign.
More information on the problem; our work; and reports
Our media releases
TEC’s energy advocacy work is funded by the National Electricity Consumer Advocacy Panel.
Contact: Mark Byrne, Energy Market Advocate, markb (at) tec.org.au
Glen Wright, Energy Market Researcher, glenw (at) tec.org.au
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