NSW power privatisation bucks the trend
The reports this week that NSW is about to privatize electricity retailing coincide with a move by many states in the US to return to regulation from an experiment with competition.
View ArticleAnd the Wankley goes to… power out for Melbourne’s media
The people of New South Wales have a lot to be angry about -- a toxic Labor government, a string of knifed premiers, a culture of ministerial incompetence. But why would the Daily Tele would try now to...
View ArticleAustralia is sleepwalking into an oil price trap
Relying on the economic demise of others to keep petrol prices low at home isn’t really good news, writes Dr Michelle Zeibots, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney
View ArticleChecking the docket on a carbon price
Treasury's figures on the impact of a carbon price undermine the case for compensating middle-income households.
View ArticlePower grab: can Sydney make it off the grid?
It’s a tough job trying to take much of the CBD of Australia’s largest city off the electricity grid.
View ArticleThe truth behind the electricity price hysteria
The hysteria over electricity price rises ignores that even after years of big rises, power bills haven't kept pace with income growth.
View ArticleGame on: energy regulators take on electricity networks
The Australian Energy Regulator has publicly conceded what has been known by many but rarely admitted -- that Australian consumers are paying way more than they need to for their network and...
View ArticleDodgy maths of carbon tax predictions
Get ready for the disaster that looms on July 1. Not the carbon tax, necessarily, but the barrage of tabloid media beat-ups.
View ArticleWhat electricity will really cost under a carbon tax
Media beat-ups aside, the proportion of the carbon price that is passed onto consumers remains a great unknown. ANU's Andrew Macintosh The Australia Institute's Richard Denniss report.
View ArticlePower prices are plunging, but only for a chosen few
It might come as a shock to many to learn that wholesale electricity prices are at their lowest since the introduction of the national electricity market more than a decade ago. Giles Parkinson of...
View ArticleThe politics of rising electricity prices
The carbon tax is not the only green scheme that will have an impact on regulated electricity retail prices in the coming year.
View ArticleElectricity retailers: do we really need them?
Electricity retailers are not really retailers at all -- they don’t deliver any product, apart from a bill. Now they're accused of standing in the way of the energy revolution. Why do we need them?
View ArticleFive things Gillard could do to fix the electricity market
Julia Gillard has finally fingered the real problem with electricity prices -- inefficient markets in need of reform. Tristan Edis of Climate Spectator lists five steps to fix the situation.
View ArticleHow heavy industry actually profits from the RET
The government's sweetener offsets to ease the pain the renewable energy target for energy-intensive industries may actually overshoot the predicted rise in electricity costs.
View ArticleForget business tax cuts, focus on electricity reform
While attempts to wangle a cut to business tax rates fail, there's more to gain from repairing our energy regulation framework instead, write Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer.
View ArticleWhy Abbott has got it all wrong on green energy
Tony Abbott is hinting he'll wind back a program to support renewable energy because that energy is forcing up power prices. Read this, Tony; you've got your sums wrong.
View ArticleSo much for our democratic Parliament
Crikey readers talk energy costs and anti-Chinese prejudice.
View ArticleShrinking electricity networks still worth a bomb
The days of electricity companies driving up costs -- and passing those costs on to their customers -- are fading.
View ArticleEssential: just go, Bronwyn, just go
Many voters, including Liberal voters, want Bronwyn Bishop gone from politics altogether. And few people are buying the government's efforts to link a carbon price and higher electricity prices,...
View ArticleEssential: strong backing for Labor’s renewables goal
Despite believing it will push up energy prices, voters strongly back Labor's goal of 50% renewable energy, potentially neutering a looming Coalition scare campaign.
View Article