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CRAIG COMMENTS |
Disaster for country electricity customers
Wednesday 21 November 2007
A Bill will be debated in the State Parliament this week to remove what little control the state has over our electricity network and place it in the hands of a national authority. This is just another stage in the privatisation and nationalisation of our electricity network and regulation, moving further from the notion of electricity as a core service and responsibility of government, to that of a private business. This bill, like a similar piece of legislation that preceded it, endorses a Bill that is being debated in the South Australian Parliament where it has not even been passed yet.
So why is this so important? What’s the problem with handing over retail regulation and price setting to a federal isolated, arguably remote, regulator? Based on feedback through my office and the annual Essential Services Commission reports on power companies’ performance, the Gippsland East electorate usually comes in as the worst area in the state based on power quality and performance through black-outs and other power outages. Most metropolitan MPs would have a complaint driven hernia if the electricity grid went down for a couple of hours. They don’t understand the issue of regular black-outs, brown-outs and poor power supplies which mean that you cannot leave electrical equipment (like computers) on overnight and that households are constantly blowing low-voltage downlights.
The problem with the current network is that some areas in remote communities are not necessarily considered as productive and profitable assets under a government supply and management system. They are considered an essential public service and the supply is maintained even if it does not return a profit. A private listed company, such as our electricity distributors, must return a dividend to its shareholders. The conflict of responsibilities is not lost on those poor consumers at the end of the electricity network with appalling power supplies. These areas are considered a drain and an unnecessary cost on the remainder of the networks.
During the last debate, I made comments that this was just the first stage of transferring the powers of Victoria’s Essential Services Commission to the National Electricity Market Management Company Limited (NEMMCO). The next stage would be the regulation and pricing of retail and distribution. Member for Eastern Region, Peter Hall MP, said I was wrong, but what else would you expect from a Nationals member who supported the privatisation of such an important utility such as electricity.
I will be opposing this Bill in the interests of all my constituents and I expect that I will be the only MP to do so.
