SA Election 2018: South Australian Liberals promise power plan to save households $302 a year on their electricity bills

ELECTRICITY bill savings of $302 per year have been promised under a Liberal power plan that includes more interconnectors to other states and dumping the state-owned power station.

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ELECTRICITY bill savings of $302 per year have been promised under a Liberal power plan that includes more interconnectors to other states and dumping the state-owned power station.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall today announced his long-awaited power plan, which features $100 million for homes with solar panels to link them up with batteries.

It also includes a $200 million “interconnection fund” to promote the building of new infrastructure links to other states.

The $302 dollar saving is based on modelling conducted for the Liberals by respected consulting firm ACIL Allen that predicts a fall in the cost of buying power from the grid from the policies.

Mr Marshall said the $302 bill cut was “locked in” and “every single household” would save.

Opposition energy spokesman Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the Liberals’ plan would lead to prices coming down “very quickly”, with the full $302 saving off bills being achieved by 2022.

Mr Marshall said the focus of the interconnection plan would be to link SA to NSW though a new cable that would deliver about 650MW of power, at a total estimated cost of $500 million.

At peak demand on hot days, SA requires 3300MW.

It can currently get 900MW from Victora.

The Liberals say this would allow SA to export excess power at times when the wind and solar are producing at high levels, while letting the state bring in extra when they are not.

The state-owned power station, which Premier Jay Weatherill has said would be set up in about two years time by converting emergency diesel generators to gas, would be dumped.

In its place, would be a so-called “reverse auction”, where the Government would ask generators that are sitting idle to offer their services to come on and the lowest prices would be accepted.

They say this would rarely be needed, and cheaper than a permanent state-owned power station.

Mr Marshall would commit $50 million to grid scale storage.

This would be aimed at ensuring that unreliable renewable energy like wind and solar are made more reliable, with batteries.

The Liberals also plan to have different pricing for consumer power at different times of the day, which would give people more flexibility to use more of their energy when it is cheap.

There would be a ban on exit fees for consumer contracts, making it easier for people to shop around and more information made available sooner when retailers change their conditions.

The Advertiser today revealed Liberal plans for a $100 million home storage subsidy scheme, which would allow 40,000 homes to buy batteries which could be linked to solar panels.

Details of how the scheme can be accessed, and would be means tested, are not known.

The total plan is costed at over $550 million, with charges from the reverse auction unclear.

Earlier this year, the Government announced a $550 million plan, but some details are unknown.

Mr Marshall said Labor’s plan would not work, and the Liberals would drive down prices to help households deal with the rising cost of living while allowing businesses to add jobs.

He said Mr Weatherill had triggered a surge in the wholesale price of power by pursuing poorly-planned expansions of wind power and allowing closure of the Port Augusta power station.

“This is welcome relief for the people of SA, who have really been struggling,” Mr Marshall said.

“It has a flow on effect for our small business sector, and large businesses across the state.”

Mr Marshall said a new interconnector would provide more stability in the grid.

“It’s a statement of the bleeding obvious that it’s not always sunny, and it’s not always windy,” he said.

“We need to have this back-up baseload power available to us in SA.

“That is what we are going to provide. “It will create a highway to take renewable energy out of SA into other markets, and that will drive further investment here in SA.”

Mr Marshall said more storage would allow intermittent renewable energy for use when needed.

He said the state-owned power station was “not a good use of state taxpayer dollars” and the Liberals will “go to the market to provide the same level of security, at a much lower outlay”.

SA Council Of Social Service senior policy officer Jo De Silva said people on very low incomes who can’t afford solar panels would be locked out of the battery program.

“On the other hand there are measures in the energy plan that we welcome,” she said.

“We applaud the banning of exit fees on retail contracts.

“South Australians are already being slugged with some of the highest power prices in the country, and every day we see around 30 customers being disconnected. SACOSS is disappointed that the people doing it toughest won’t receive targeted relief under this plan.”

Mr Weatherill said Mr Marshall had released “a bad plan”.

He claimed it would “privatise our state-owned energy plant even before we’ve purchased it” and the interconnector plan undermined a push for SA to take control of its own power.

“What Steven Marshall wants to do is give control of our energy to east coast companies that always put SA last,” Mr Weatherill said. “There is a massive difference between us.”

Mr Weatherill said the Government examined and rejected the interconnector plans.

He said the Liberal privatisation of ETSA in 1999 had failed to bring prices down as promised, and Mr Marshall’s new pledge of a $302 cut to bills could not be trusted.