Foreign AGL boss Andrew Vesey earns $6.9 million while households struggle with power bills

THE boss of energy giant AGL, Andy Vesey, is on a 457 visa ­because apparently no Australian is qualified for the job.

AGL boss Andy Vesey earned $6.9 million last year.

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THE boss of energy giant AGL, Andy Vesey, is on a 457 visa ­because apparently no Australian is qualified for the job.

As Sydney households struggle against outrageous power bill hikes, the American earned $6.9 million last year.

Tony Abbott.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal confidential data from the big three energy companies shows 20 per cent of an average NSW power bill is going to fill their coffers.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott described Mr Vesey as an “extortionist”.

He said Mr Vesey was benefiting from the pain of families.

“There is no doubt that these power companies are crying all the way to the bank about the prices that consumers face because they are minting money, they are the direct beneficiaries of the pain in our pocket,” Mr Abbott said.

“All of their so-called policy advice is utterly self-serving and it should be rejected by the government because government has got to look at the national interest not just the interest of these extortionists.”

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The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Vesey is in Australia on a 457 visa, used by businesses to sponsor foreign workers when they cannot find an Australian candidate skilled enough for the job.

And confidential data that the big three power players — AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia — provided to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) reveals they made gross margins of $330 from each yearly household electricity bill in NSW in 2015-16.

An AEMC July report found the gross margins amounted to 20 per cent of an average bill.