Gas exports, not renewables, to blame for high power bills, says Al Gore

Al Gore says Australia’s rising electricity bills may be due to our high level of gas exports.

Al Gore in Sydney yesterday to promote his documentary. Picture: Britta Campion

The world’s best-known climate change activist, Al Gore, says Australia’s rising electricity bills may be due to its high level of gas ­exports — not renewable energy sources.

“We now have the solutions to the climate crisis … and they’re ­affordable,” the former US vice-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

“Indeed, electricity from solar and wind in most places is now cheaper than electricity from burning coal.”

But this is not the case in Australia. When asked about growing consumer unrest here over rising electricity prices, Mr Gore said: “Of course there’s a debate in Australia about the role played by natural gas being priced to the world price, and large exports now have driven up the price of gas, which may be the majority of the price increases.”

Mr Gore is visiting Australia to speak at an eco-cities summit in Melbourne this week. He is also promoting his forthcoming documentary, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, a fly-on-the-wall account of his environmental ­crusade.

The man who came within a whisker of winning the 2000 US presidential election said it was “inspiring” that his friend Tesla co-founder Elon Musk was helping to build the world’s biggest battery in South Australia to help stabilise the state’s energy supply after a run of blackouts.

“I am very impressed with South Australia’s leadership in ­installing what will be the largest battery in the entire world, and it will point the way for other states and other nations,” Mr Gore said.

The self-described “recovering politician” said the 2015 Paris ­climate agreement was “a beacon of hope” and a “truly historic breakthrough”.

He downplayed Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal, after earlier comments that the move was “reckless” and “indefensible”.

“The fears that many of us felt when he announced his decision have not come to pass,” Mr Gore said. “No other country has followed Donald Trump’s lead.”

Mr Gore said the latest data showed the US was “very likely to meet and exceed its reductions commitments in spite of Donald Trump”. He added: “It is inspiring to me that Australians on a bipartisan basis have supported the Paris agreement and have stood by it.”

Mr Gore pointed out the ­Republican stronghold of Georgetown in Texas now generated all its power from renewable sources, because they were cheaper there than fossil fuels.

“As it (renewable energy) falls below the threshold of the cost of fossil electricity, it becomes a no-brainer,” he said.

“The parallel decline in the price of battery storage (used for wind and solar power) is making a revolutionary difference.”

He declared that as extreme weather events “bring mother ­nature into the debate” and as the cost of renewables declined in many markets, “we (climate activists) are winning … the remaining question is whether we will win it in time. The Great Barrier Reef, for example, is at dire risk”.