Higher bill fears over 11th-hour list of power plan demands

VICTORIAN companies and Australia’s biggest manufacturers have banded together to urge Premier Daniel Andrews to back the National Energy Guarantee, saying high power bills will remain and jobs lost unless he signs up to the plan.

VICTORIAN companies and Australia’s biggest manufacturers have banded together to urge Premier Daniel Andrews to back the National Energy Guarantee, saying high power bills will remain and jobs lost unless he signs up to the plan.

Mr Andrews is under fire for unveiling an 11th-hour list of demands for NEG changes, days before tomorrow’s pivotal meeting, when states will be called on to sign up to the plan.

The last-minute demands, made this week after nine months of negotiation, come as new modelling shows Victorian companies would be some of the hardest hit if Mr Andrews scuttled the plan.

STATES TOLD NOT TO PLAY POLITICS ON NEG

TERRY MCCRANN: THE ONLY WAY TO CUT POWER BILLS

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling

The revolt also follows a campaign by activist groups, including Greenpeace and GetUp!, calling on Mr Andrews to derail the NEG.

Victoria Wool Processors Group general manager David Ritchie questioned why the Andrews government revealed the new demands two days before the meeting.

“My concern is this continual politicking of energy policy has been the single thing that has led to these high energy prices Australia is experiencing at the moment,” he said.

“As the National Energy Guarantee is the policy at the moment, we just have to agree to it.”

Chemistry Australia chief executive Samantha Read said delaying the decision on the NEG at tomorrow’s COAG meeting would result in higher power bills and lost jobs.

Coalition backbenchers met business leaders about the National Energy Guarantee at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

Wilson Transformer executive chairman Robert Wilson said the states should not scuttle the NEG in a pursuit of the “perfect” policy.

“Nothing is going to be perfect. It’s important to move forward and develop a policy for people to move around,” Mr Wilson said.

The power bills of a typical paper mill in Victoria would be slashed by almost $8.5 million a year under the NEG, Department of Environment and Energy analysis shows.

The power bill for a hospital using 20,000 megawatts an hour would be reduced by $330,000 a year.

It is predicted household power bills would fall by $550 — $150 due to the NEG and $400 to new renewable energy coming on line.

The Andrews government’s new demands include a push to amend the NEG’s emissions reduction target by regulation every three years, contradicting its own arguments when legislating its renewable energy target.

[e-mail]

Twitter: @Gallo_Ways