NT Treasurer Nicole Manison fights for right to slug Territorians more for power

TREASURER Nicole Manison is confident the Australian Energy Regulator will allow Power and Water to charge Territorians more for their electricity

Power and Water workers doing upgrades on circuit breakers ... NT Treasurer Nicole Manison is confident the Australian Energy Regulator will allow Power and Water to charge Territorians more for their electricity

TREASURER Nicole Manison is confident the Australian Energy Regulator will allow Power and Water to charge Territorians more for their electricity.

For the first time, the regulator will determine how much Power and Water is able to recover from its customers through distribution charges.

Under the AER’s draft determination, Territory households would be $834 better off over five years than they would be under the current pricing structure.

The regulator said Power and Water was inefficient and could reduce its costs through cutting capital expenditure and further cutting from its operating budget.

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Power and Water, which is the NT’s dominant energy wholesaler through Territory Generation, had already committed to cutting operating expenses by 14 per cent this financial year.

The AER also argued Power and Water had overbudgeted for staff salaries by using a historical average from South Australian utilities providers to base forecasted wage rises off, rather than the lower utilities workers wage price index from Deloitte Access Economics.

But Ms Manison said she was confident the AER would see it the Territory’s way when it made its final determination.

“To meet the first draft proposal from the AER, the Power and Water Corporation would have to significantly scale back staffing, maintenance and repair services – all of which raises safety issues for the public and PWC,” she said.

Ms Manison claimed Territorians already paid “some of the lowest prices in the country” for their power, and said customers would understand why higher prices were needed.

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She said the Government would keep its promise to keep price rises in line with CPI.

“Territorians also want a reliable power service, given the unique circumstances of the Territory – our climate, cyclones, rural land, staffing demands during peak seasons – delivering a reliable service needs appropriate funding,” she said. “The AER need to factor these circumstances into their final determination.”

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It’s unlikely Power and Water’s capital expenditure costs will reduce any time soon – Ms Manison said she would make an announcement on the long awaited project to shift powerlines underground in cyclone-prone Darwin “very soon”.

That project is expected to cost $290 million over 15 years.