Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s green energy targets to add $1000 a year to Queensland power bills

QUEENSLAND households will be hit with a hefty electricity bill hike for the next 14 years to meet Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ambitious green energy target.

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QUEENSLAND households will pay more than $1000 a year extra in power bills over the next 14 years to meet Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ambitious green energy target of 50 per cent renewable energy.

The Courier-Mail has obtained additional detail of modelling recently released by the Federal Department of Environment and Energy, which showed the 50 per cent target would cost Queensland $27 billion, or $14,210 per household, over the period.

The federal modelling is based on official future National Energy Market transmission forecasts, correlated with Bloomberg Finance analysis of the cost of building new renewables infrastructure under Labor’s 50 per cent target.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said state Labor governments were being driven by ideology.

“Queensland has not offered any evidence that its unrealistic 50 per cent renewable energy target can be met without compromising energy security or without driving up power prices,” he said.

Mr Frydenberg said state governments should “harmonise” their renewable energy targets with the federal target of 23.5 per cent by 2020.

Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey dismissed the figures and said the State Government’s own draft report from an independent expert panel showed the cost of the green energy target was $6.7 billion over 14 years. State-based targets have come into sharp focus since a statewide blackout in South Australia.

Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey. Picture: Jack Tran

“A number of Labor states have been driven by ideology which is putting pressure on the affordability and reliability of the system,” Mr Frydenberg said.

He said the South Australian blackout demonstrated the challenges posed by intermittent power generators such as wind and solar.