Australians are reeling from electricity prices that have soared more than 130 per cent since 2015. Among the reasons for the rocket-rise: profiteering by wholesalers and the so-called 'gold-plating' of the electricity distribution network. But the real culprit? Gas.
Australia is now exporting so much gas there is not enough available at a reasonable cost to create electricity domestically or for it to be used by industry. That is causing huge problems for anyone who pays a power bill, as well as local manufacturers.
It has. Gas that was $4 a gigajoule in 2015 spiked to nearly $20 two years ago. A flooded market in Asia means gas sells for $7.50 in Japan but $10 here.Exacerbating the problem, locked-in contracts to ship gas to Asia have meant scant supply here and steep price rises for companies such as petrochemical manufacturer Qenos.
"If we don't address the issue we're going to see a lot of jobs and a lot of industrial manufacturing disappear off the east coast of Australia," he said.
psimpsonmorgan Further, Credit Suisse analaysis demonstrates LNG export value to the entire economy outweighs some impact to electricity prices (more impacted by shift to renewables requiring gas peaking). Massive gas reserves exist yet some State Govts refuse access...now there’s a fixable!
psimpsonmorgan They’ve quoted DLS! Let’s face it, Macrobusiness is anti-mining/resources and David’s “solutions” for LNG are laughable. Interesting to see if ABC are as enthusiastic to quote Macrobusiness on issues of racism and immigration. Treading a dark path.
The only reason the international demand, therefore price of gas, impacts on domestic power costs is because we shut down so many coal fired power stations. We could also be using solar thermal energy to gasify coal without the usual CO2 production that that process involves.
R_Chirgwin It’s not the market it’s the government. If you give our gas away this is what happens. BTW we have no fuel refineries and hardly any Australian flagged ships left so there’s another ‘market failure’ waiting to crush us. auspol
Raise the price of Australian gas. Make the multinationals pay their tax. Raise the taxes on exports. Raise the royalties on gas. Slightly and gradually until the amount of gas exported leaves plenty for the domestic market. By doing so there will be a benefit to the environment.