Energy prices: Power bills pay for $600m green fund

STRUGGLING families are funding clean energy retreats for bur­eaucrats and research into environmental benefits of lighter coloured roads as a special climate change “slush fund” is being passed on directly to household power bills.

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A $600 MILLION climate change “slush fund” driving up NSW power prices is being used to stage talkfests on solar energy, fund studies into the environmental impacts of “lighter coloured” roads and even pay for bureaucrats to ­attend energy forums.

About $600 million was ripped from energy distributors Ausgrid, Endeavour and Essential over the past two years for the state’s Climate Change Fund, with the peak body representing the distributors confirming the costs of the contributions are simply being passed onto consumers.

There are now calls for a ­review of how the fund, which was established in 2007 and was once used to pay for the now-closed Solar Bonus Scheme, is being operated.

It  can  today be revealed it is  being used to fund “free solar seminars” in rural areas and numerous clean energy “workshops”.

About $600 million has been ripped from energy distributors, including Ausgrid.

The “outcome” for one workshop was a “new partnership between Hawkesbury Council and community energy and environment groups”.

It also paid for a project to “cool” a “city block” in Newtown, which is looking at initiatives like lighter coloured roads and planting extra trees and street gardens.

About $10,000 was handed to not-for-profit OzGreen to “to develop energy efficiency education materials for community groups and schools in Singleton”.

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The Climate Change Fund also tipped cash into free solar seminars across regional areas including Broken Hill and ­Albury.

The “slush fund” is being fed by energy providers’ power bills.

The climate cash was also used by government representatives to attend energy efficiency events, including the 2016 Renewable Cities Forum, Corowa Climate Forum and the Eurobodalla Climate Change Day.

Questions are now being asked within the Berejiklian government about why many of the initiatives supported through the fund aren’t simply being covered by departmental budgets so that there isn’t a ­direct effect on the power bills of ordinary families.

NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton. Picture: Jason McCawley / News Corp Australia

Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Borsak reckons it’s a “secret tax”.

“It’s not good enough to point at the Commonwealth and say energy policy is their problem when we ignore solutions to take pressure off prices in our own backyard,” one government MP said.

“We should … end the green slush funds which directly increase electricity prices for consumers.”

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Robert Borsak said the fund was a “secret tax”.

The government said the fund had been “estimated” to save households money because of the programs’ positive impact. “The fund ... has a focus on putting downward pressure on energy bills by saving energy,” Environment Minister Gab­rielle Upton’s spokesman said.