Liberals to support Labor’s move to give Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis more control over SA electricity market

TREASURER Tom Koutsantonis will gain sweeping new powers to control SA’s electricity market, including the right to tell generators when to turn on, in State Parliament this week.

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TREASURER Tom Koutsantonis will gain sweeping new powers to control SA’s electricity market, including the right to tell generators when to turn on, in State Parliament this week.

The Advertiser can reveal the Liberal Party will offer bipartisan backing for a major plank in the State Government’s energy plan, which aims to put SA’s interests ahead of the national market.

Mr Koutsantonis has introduced proposed new laws that allow him to order individual power stations to switch on in times of need, and regulate how much power is traded between SA and Victoria.

He says the Australian Energy Market Operator has been asleep at the wheel, and its inaction contributed to the statewide blackout in September and February’s forced load-shedding.

Following a Liberal partyroom meeting late Monday, Opposition energy spokesman Dan van Holst Pellekaan said Labor would get the support it needed to pass the changes into law.

He said the Opposition retained grave concerns about how Mr Koutsantonis would exercise the powers, and whether they were fully legal, but Labor now had no excuses for its performance.

“The Government has created this mess over the last 15 years, and now believes it has a plan to fix it,” Mr van Holst Pellekaan said.

Premier Jay Weatherill and Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis speak to the media in Port Pirie. Picture: Matt Loxton

“The Opposition is very, very sceptical about their capacity to do that but it is not going to stand in the way of this legislative change.

“The Government has said that their package will reduce electricity prices and blackouts.

“The proof will be in the pudding. The Government is going to give themselves these massive, massive powers and they better be able to fix anything that comes along from now on.”

SA is projected to suffer significant electricity price rises in the second half of this year, and is being warned to brace for power shortfalls and possible blackouts in summer.

The next state election is in March, which both parties have said will be fought on the issue of power.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan said Mr Koutsantonis could spark a dangerous conflict with Victoria, which supplies about 20 per cent of SA’s power and helps stabilise the local grid, over the interconnector and there could be a “complete mess” if it took retaliatory action.

Mr Koutsantonis said it was critical that he be able to quickly intervene in the market, without being forced to first go through a lengthy process of officially declaring a state of emergency.

“The legislation ... will provide greater energy security for the state by allowing us to direct domestic generation and limit the flow of power on the interconnector,” he said.

“If these powers had existed last year, the statewide blackout could have been avoided by reducing reliance on the interconnector and calling on more generation in SA.”

The Federal Government has raised concerns about the legality of Mr Koutsantonis’ plan to take greater energy powers.

Victoria has said the move is proof the national market is not working.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan said he had been refused access to the State Government’s legal advice.