Energy Retailers and Prime Minister meet again

The large electricity retailers have followed up on their previous meeting earlier this month in Canberra, meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney today. The topic of discussion was in regard to retailers contacting their existing customers who are on high standing electricity rates and informing them of more competitive deals available to them. The retailers agreed to the PM’s request to make contact with their customers on high standard rates and will be writing to over 2 million customers. This is one of the measures taken by the Turnbull government to reduce energy costs for Australian households.

It was noted that the energy retailers stressed to Mr Turnbull the need for energy policy certainty. This relates to whether or not the Turnbull Government will accept the final recommendation from the Finkel Review to implement a Clean Energy Target. On Monday night, Mr Turnbull appeared on the ABC’s 730 Report. When asked if his government would make a decision on the Clean Energy Target before the end of year, Prime Minister Turnbull could not commit but insisted that his government was taking a detailed considered approach to the matter.

Earlier today the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced the introduction of legislation for Victorian Renewable Energy Targets (VRET); the largest renewable energy auction in Australia. The ministers also announced the award of contracts for two large scale solar plants to supply energy to Melbourne’s tram network.

Daniel Andrews announced that the Victorian Government would conduct a reverse auction for 650 MW of renewable capacity. Details of when the auction would be taking place were not provided. This move by the Victorian Premier will help towards achieving the states renewable energy target of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2025.

Earlier this week the Palaszczuk Government launched the Renewables 400 program; a reverse auction for 400 MW capacity. The program invites parties to participate in a reverse auction for wind, solar and storage capacity. As part of the project up to 100 MW will be allocated specifically to storage capacity. An Expression Of Interest (EOI) will commence in late August 2017. The aim of the project is to:

• Diversify the sources of Queensland’s electricity generation
• Support system security and reliability
• Accelerate the deployment of energy storage in Queensland
• Support local business and employment

As was the case in Victoria, this project will move Queensland closer towards achieving its target of 50% renewable energy by 2030.

The Queensland Government has announced CS Energy; which is wholly owned by the Queensland State Government, will form a 50/50 partnership with the privately owned Alinta Energy. The newly formed company would provide discounted electricity prices to residential customers and small businesses in South East Queensland.

The new company would offer a 2-year electricity contract with a headline 25% discount of usage charges. This offer is currently marketed on Alinta’s website as a Home SaverPlus.

The Queensland Government is urging other retailers to offer similar discounts and has encouraged them to approach the government owned corporations to strike similar deals and pass on savings. There are currently no plans to extend this offer outside South East Queensland.