Peta Credlin: What Aussies are not told about new ‘free’ power scheme
Energy Minister Chris Bowen's promise of free daytime electricity masks a deeper crisis in Australia's power grid as consumers face soaring bills and reliability concerns, writes Peta Credlin.
Demanding that consumers be given three hours of “free electricity” in the middle of the day is just the latest sign of energy madness from the Albanese government. There is no such thing as free electricity.
If power retailers are forced to supply electricity at no cost to consumers during the day, it’s inevitable that consumers will be charged more at other times – as experts said last week – especially in the evenings when most households need power to cook dinner, run appliances, cool or heat their homes, and perhaps to charge their EVs.
By offering “free” power in the middle of the day, the government is hoping to shift power use in an attempt to stabilise a grid that’s becoming dangerously unbalanced due to sudden surges in solar-generated power.
This is what triggered a countrywide outage for almost 24 hours in Spain earlier this year, meaning Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s “free” power offer is about saving his backside from blackouts rather than looking after households.
And this is Labor’s real problem. It can endlessly repeat that wind and solar are cheap but you show me a power bill that’s gone down, rather than up, as we have added more and more renewables into our energy mix.
That’s because harnessing the sun and the wind’s power requires massive infrastructure, as does getting electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed. Then there’s the cost of all the back-up generation needed for when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Even over vast swathes of territory, there can be long periods of grey, calm conditions – in addition to overnight. That’s why renewable systems need back-up for weeks at a time in order to guarantee the 24/7 electricity that modern life depends on.
If you want to know why power prices have gone up over 20 per cent, on average, over the past year, this is it.
Supposedly “free electricity” – Bowen’s latest stunt – just proves he’s the government’s weakest link. What he’s really doing here is trying to fix a system that’s already over-reliant on renewables and will only get worse as the government keeps trying to achieve 82 per cent renewable generation within just five years – or double the current percentage.
So far, the only winners from Bowen’s drive to get reliable fossil-fuelled electricity out of the grid are people rich enough to install solar panels and batteries. That’s currently about $12,000 for the average house – even after federal and state subsidies.
And while solar panels and batteries can run a house, they can’t run an economy – as is becoming increasingly clear, with power prices going up, reliability going down, and heavy industry closing down and migrating offshore. Just look at the Tomago smelter in NSW.
At present, on sunny days, solar typically generates about 40 per cent of the east coast’s electricity – but this can drop to almost nothing if the weather’s not right.
And because the electricity retailers are forced to buy renewable power first, there are wild variations in wholesale electricity prices, which now can even go negative in the middle of sunny days, thanks to the proliferation of rooftop solar.
That’s what’s damaging the economics of reliable coal-fired electricity which, contrary to Bowen’s spin, is still the cheapest form of base-load power, which is why the Chinese are opening two coal-fired power stations a week, often using our coal.
Despite the renewable hype, coal still provides 60 per cent of the east coast’s power. Data from AGL’s recent annual report suggests that, at least for this big generator, the production of electricity from coal is three times cheaper than from firmed renewables.
Bowen’s supposedly free electricity will only be available to households with smart meters – many of whom are finding themselves slugged with higher bills, thanks to variable pricing. All up, it’s another false step from a government that’s addicted to interfering in markets, subsidising failure, and pretending that because you don’t directly pay for something, somehow it’s free.
The ongoing energy train wreck only adds to the significance of this coming week’s meeting to sort out the Liberal Party’s position on net zero. For the last two elections, inner-city Liberals told their colleagues that they had to hang on to the same net-zero policy as Labor to hold back the teal MPs.
And yet matching Labor did nothing to stem the losses. Now being wedded to net zero is haemorrhaging votes to One Nation. Nothing less than junking it in its entirety will suffice.
To stay with any sort of aspiration is to be “half pregnant”.
It’s time for the Liberals to stand on their own two feet and stop mimicking Labor. Energy policy is about Australia’s future prosperity. It’s about our manufacturing survival and the quality of life for everyone who isn’t super-rich.
Get this right and the Liberals can get back in the game. Get it wrong by sticking with Labor’s net-zero madness and this will be the beginning of the end for the party of Menzies.
THUMBS UP
King Charles for stripping his brother, Andrew, of his birthright titles can’t have been easy but was the tough and honourable thing to do.
THUMBS DOWN
British rugby union authorities for surrendering to trans activism and demanding that, for men’s rugby, that “man of the match” become the “player of the match”.
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Originally published as Peta Credlin: What Aussies are not told about new ‘free’ power scheme
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