Ongoing budget risk from potential sale of Hydro Tasmania consultancy Entura, says Labor

Tasmania’s opposition has warned the potential sale of Hydro’s consulting business would weaken future state budgets, and gut the electricity generator of vital corporate knowledge.

Labor shadow treasurer Josh Willie.

Tasmania’s Labor opposition has warned the potential sale of Hydro’s thriving consulting business would permanently weaken future state budgets, and gut the publicly owned electricity generator of vital corporate knowledge and experience.

With a report from economist Saul Eslake’s independent review into Tasmanian government business enterprises – including Entura – currently sitting on the Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s desk, Labor treasury spokesperson Josh Willie said privatising what he described as Hydro’s engineering department would impact future dividends from the power company which last year contributed $122 million to the state’s coffers.

A day after Opposition Leader Dean Winter accused Premier Rockliff of breaking a promise made in his recent State of the State parliamentary address to keep Hydro in public hands, Mr Willie said the government had a clear agenda to offload Hydro-affiliated businesses including retailer Momentum Energy, and Entura.

“The Premier said Hydro was a sacred cow, and that it was not for sale,” Mr Willie said on Wednesday.

“But it’s become clear that Entura is part of his privatisation review.

“This is dumb policy.

“Why would Premier Rockliff be putting a specialised area of Hydro up for sale when renewable energy is one of the biggest opportunities for Tasmania in terms of economic development and our future as a state.

“Hydro leverages 100 years of renewable energy and engineering experience to design new projects, maintain our dams and bring in money from outside Tasmania.

“Privatising Hydro’s engineering department and losing all that expertise will have immediate impacts on Hydro’s bottom line, and rip millions of dollars out of Tasmanian schools and hospitals.

“Today, I’m calling on Premier Rockliff and Treasurer Barnett to come clean on just how much their plan to privatise Hydro’s engineering department will cost the budget.”

The most recent Hydro Tasmania annual report describes Entura as a specialist consulting firm that earns service fees by providing water and energy solutions to clients in Tasmania, Australia, and overseas.

Last financial year, Entura expended 59 per cent of its “total resource effort” - or 140,000 person hours - directly supporting Hydro Tasmania operations, while also undertaking international energy projects in counties including India, Laos, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Despite the government sizing the consultancy up for potential sale, Treasurer Guy Barnett said he was unaware of the quantum of Entura’s annual revenues, or its proportional contribution to Hydro Tasmania’s financial performance.

“As a part of the Hydro Group, Entura’s revenue, income, and profits are consolidated in Hydro Tasmania’s financial statements and are not prepared separately,” Mr Barnett said.

“We are taking a measured approach to our review of government businesses.

“Dean Winter himself publicly supported asking these questions back in 2015, and it’s consistent with Labor’s very own energy policy at the last state election.”

Mr Barnett last week told parliament that Mr Eslake’s GBE review report would be publicly released “in coming weeks”.

Originally published as Ongoing budget risk from potential sale of Hydro Tasmania consultancy Entura, says Labor