If you happen to be reading this well after the 1st of July 2023, please continue reading because what’s happening in Australia now, and in fact worldwide at this time, is a cycle that countries go through on a regular basis and quite predictably to those with access to accurate history and with eyes to see.
Yes, the cost of grid supplied electricity is going up and it is happening at the same time that our nation has an oversupply of daytime electrical energy.
How is that possible?
Over 2 million homes in Australia are sporting rooftop solar panels which are exporting the majority of collected energy because more than 5/7 of the time, that is, at least 5 days of the 7-day week, residents are at work and children are at school, at peak collection times. The majority of the energy collected is in the middle of day and the occupants of most homes are elsewhere so most of the solar energy cannot be used in the home and is therefore exported.
Our energy company used to pay us as much as 16 per kWh for our exported electrical energy up until about 12 months ago when they sent us a letter explaining that they would now be paying us nothing for our exported energy and that the energy we purchased from them would now cost a little more.
At that time, they were purchasing our exported energy at 16 cents per kilowatt-hour at the same time they were charging us 23 cents per kilowatt hour for the energy we bought from them.
In less than one week, they will continue to pay us nothing for the electricity we export to them, but they will now charge us 34 cents per kilowatt hour for the electricity we purchase from them.
There are rumours, because of the oversupply, it may soon cost households to export electricity back to the grid. That is, households will have to pay to dump their excess solar energy into the grid.
The trend, as usual, is always, less for us and more for THEM.
For those visionaries who locked in an agreement with their state government whilst the high (FIT) Feed In Tariff was still available, they will continue to be rewarded at the expense of the other consumers until those agreements run out before the end of this decade. Our household accessed a program, which expires in June 2028, with the Queensland Government on a guaranteed (FIT) Feed In Tariff of 44 cents for each kilowatt hour we export to the grid for the duration of the agreement.
Of course, every effort to remove as many households as possible from that excessively generous program has been undertaken including applying changes made to the conditions of supply years after the contract was signed. Obviously, for anyone on the program, including us, it is in their best interest to be compliant with all the conditions, including any introduced as time goes on, as 44 cents per kilowatt hour is still a “big carrot”.
Of course, a very “big carrot” was what was needed to get the ball rolling on solar as it was financially unviable for those who had access to grid supplied electricity to get involved with solar. As usual, the taxpayer picked up the tab back in those days and will continue to do so until June 2028 but as of the 1st of July 2023 this will be with a little help from the consumer. As usual, commodities are always more attractive if someone else pays for them.
The Australian public are “freaking out” with the inevitable electricity cost increase of 30%, bringing Qld’s general rate to around the 34 cents per kWh. Imagine paying 44 cents per kWh, especially as far back as 2012. Even in this market, but especially more than a decade ago, the market price of solar energy was very, very, very expensive.
The plan “from above” or somewhere else was well underway well before solar was heavily subsidised by both taxpayer and consumer.
When the electrical industry was deregulated, the then Qld Premier, Peter Beattie, announced that electricity would not increase, and, as a quote on MSM, he said that he guaranteed that. I saw and heard him make the claim and I did notice that his mouth was moving. Of course, he hasn’t picked up the tab for the difference in every household’s electricity bill so I’m not sure that his guarantee had any value. Taken from https://www.smh.com.au/national/price-hike-not-caused-by-deregulation-20090808-edem.html “then-premier Peter Beattie declared “no one will pay any more“. But they did. But why?
Everything in this world is now commodified. Food, water, children’s body organs and electricity. THEY haven’t worked out how to charge for air yet but I’m thinking people who exercise will eventually have to pay more.
Yes, electricity is a commodity and must therefore be sold for the highest price the market will bear.
Surely competition in the market is the best way to keep the price of any commodity at its lowest possible price. Therefore, after deregulation the price would have to be more competitive.
MSM release: “Premier Peter Beattie has been accused of breaking a promise after today announcing Queenslanders will pay more for electricity from next month, despite the state’s energy market being opened to competition. Mr Beattie today announced a maximum 11.37 per cent increase in electricity costs from July 1. Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney said the price rise went against a government promise that deregulation of the electricity market would deliver better prices”. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/electricity-bills-to-rise-20070620-ge8spx.html
So, to continue the story, and this article is NOT an allegory, after deregulating the electricity industry, ….. the prices went up.
From an article by Daniel Pace 8 August 2009, (link below) “Deregulation of the energy industry is not to blame for the surge in electricity prices in Queensland, says Premier Anna Bligh. (She was the next Premier)
The typical Queensland household now pays more for electricity than council rates.
(Council amalgamations a few years after theses events put challenge to that)
And the situation is expected to worsen, with state-owned power distribution company Energex predicting a 10 per cent increase in prices next year.
This would mean a 50 per cent jump in power bills since July 2007 when competition was introduced, and then-premier Peter Beattie declared “no one will pay any more”.
“It is not deregulation that is driving electricity prices,” Ms Bligh told reporters on Saturday.
“They are going up in every state of Australia, whether they are regulated or deregulated”. https://www.smh.com.au/national/price-hike-not-caused-by-deregulation-20090808-edem.html Premier Bligh’s explanation was that “Electricity prices are going up because of massive investments in our network and improvements in electricity supply and security”. The massive investments and improvements, which continue to this day, are in “renewable energy”, including solar. Adds continue to run on prime-time TV declaring that the Government will pay homeowners to go solar.
That is one serious incentive.
Not only will going solar cost you nothing, but THEY will also pay you to do it.
In fact, the investment continues at taxpayer and the electricity consumers expense as it has done for the last decade at an ever-increasing rate.
We need more homes and businesses on solar as those economically viable and reliable coal fired electricity generators are going the way of the dodo.
At least in the western world.
“The Palaszczuk government has promised $62 billion to close Queensland’s coal-fired power stations” https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/no-renewables-are-not-cheaper/
Although “… a good portion of that (is) allocated to new transmission lines”.
To transmit what?
To transmit generated “renewable energy” which will need appropriate infrastructure.
The other states are following suit. All singing from the same hymn book as though they were in some unison.
Who is conducting this cacophony?
In the same article the term “white elephant projects” were listed advising that losses would need to be “recovered through electricity bills”.
That would be via an increase in retail electricity prices. …. Ahaa …
Let’s get back in our “Delorian” (that is metaphorical) and return to the week before 1 July 2023.
This new solar generated electrical energy is now so abundant that energy resellers have the market abundance to justify paying nothing to acquire it and it is rumoured that a charge to dump this “excessive energy” may soon be the next cab off the rank.
That is cheap energy, so cheap that you can’t even give it away, and it may well cost you to dump it. And whilst I think and reason and type, the advertisements to, let’s say “encourage” households to join the solar family increase the cost for the taxpayer and benefit the MSM (Main Stream Media)
So why is there a 30% increase in supply charge? Well ….
From https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/no-renewables-are-not-cheaper/ “We consumers are repeatedly told that wind and solar are ‘the cheapest form of new energy’, when in fact, the cost of electricity is increasing in parallel to the rise of renewables. ‘It’s all the fault of those dirty fossil fuels!’ some bottom feeders scream, when presented with this startling correlation”.
With that statement still in mind let’s revisit this quote, “The Palaszczuk government promised $62 billion to close Queensland’s coal-fired power stations”.
Which “coal-fired power stations” and who owns these coal-fired power stations?
From a simple google search you will find that. “The Queensland Government owns more than $35 billion of generator, network and distribution electricity assets” as at 10 Sept 2020. And did you know that Energex is a government owned corporation with more than nearly 1½ million customers in Southeast Queensland.
The Queensland Government own’s eight coal-fired power stations, which is a couple less than China will build in the next four weeks.
Yes, China will build more than 100 new coal fired power stations in the next year and India is not far behind them.
Meanwhile we are dismantling ours and paying homeowners who don’t have solar to get solar which will produce an excess of electrical energy at peak times that they well may have to pay to dump.
Australia is saving the planet by closing our nationwide coal fired facilities that have supplied reliable baseload power for the country both daytime and nighttime in all seasons and during any short term or extended weather event. … Kudos to us.
Australia has a booming coal export industry that exports coal to China and elsewhere. Google says, “As of March 13, 2023, a total of 1.35 million tons of coal had been shipped from Australia to China, which marks a significant increase from 0.82 million tons the previous month”.
Let’s also note that “India is the second largest importer of coal in the world after China, and in 2021, 80% of their coal imports came from Australia”.
Australia is making tons of money exporting coal. Not you and not me, … Australia, and we are saving the planet by closing down our reliable, cheap energy producing coalfired power stations.
India will build more than twice as many coal-fired power stations between now and the end of this year (June – December 2023) as Australia has ever had.
Of course, there is nothing hypocritical about any of this.
The Queensland Government’s eight coal-fired power stations are increasingly supplemented by other energy sources including gas and solar energy that they get for free or pay up to 44 cents per kWh in Qld because of those “God Dammed” high FIT (Feed In Tariff) pre June 2012 agreements.
I was going to say more or less in some states, but you can’t get any less than nothing, … unless you get charged to dump your peak solar surplus energy.
Legislation ensures, that as we transition our energy mix, that coal fired electricity production is mingled with an increasing amount of “green energy”, ie solar energy, so, the industry needs to access this “green energy” to stay compliant with Government’s increasing demands. This mix will change as our society transitions from what was predominately coal-fired produced electricity to a more “climate friendly” supply reaching net zero by 2030.
All this will happen, apparently, whilst China and India continue to build hundreds more coal fired power stations with many of them burning coal exported from Australia.
That’s how these corporations are saving the planet.
Exporting coal is good for the Qld Government Corporation. Yes, they are a corporation. They are registered as QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT, notice all uppercase letters with an ABN of 75 818456 675.
This is not personal, it’s just business.
You can find a list of the corporation’s registered corporate names and ABN’s here: https://abr.business.gov.au/Search/ResultsAll?SearchText=Queensland+Government
If you are a business, it is financially best to be compliant with both state and federal government “laws”. If you ask a search engine “Can I run a business without an ABN?” you will find a similar response advising, “It is not compulsory for businesses to register for an ABN, however getting an ABN is free and makes running your business easier, particularly if you have to register for other taxes like GST. Without an ABN, other businesses must withhold 47% from payments they make to you for tax purposes”. (7 Mar 2023) Corporations don’t want to pay 47% tax, they want to pay zero tax.
So how much money does the QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT get from entities mining Queensland coal and exporting it to other countries to burn in coal fired power stations to produce cheap electricity for its industries where it won’t contribute to the polluting of the world with carbon that the “experts” claim is causing global warming?
The QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT, frequently and incorrectly referred to as the Queensland Government owns a corporation called Stanwell. They own Stanwell Power Station near Rockhampton, Mica Creek Power Station near Mount Isa and Tarong power station near Nanango.
They own other stuff as well including Meandu Mine near Kingaroy.
The Stanwell corporation has well over 1000 employees as well as regular contractors as is part of the $35 billion package that the Palaszczuk government has promised to spend more than twice that amount, ie. $62 billion, to close down as the corporation transitions to net zero by 2030.
A billion dollars is a thousand million dollars. That would build a lot of public housing and 62 times that amount would build 62 times more. But THEY won’t be doing that.
That $62 billion has to come from somewhere.
The Stanwell power station west of Rockhampton, gets its coal from Curragh Mine in Central Queensland which is owned by Coronado Global Resources Inc. (Current as at 26 Mar 2023)
During an ASX Announcement dated 25 May 2023, being the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Stockholders, the Chairman advised that “In 2022, the Curragh mine alone paid to the Queensland Government, and the Queensland Government affiliated Stanwell Corporation, a total of US$494 million in royalties and rebates. This was more than three times higher than in 2021”. Ref: https://newswire.iguana2.com/af5f4d73c1a54a33/crn.asx/2A1451034/CRN_Chairmans_Address_to_Shareholders Of course, that is a little less than a quarter of a billion dollars but that is US dollars and it’s only one mine. Of course, the cost of energy will go up if the government is getting three times the amount in royalties and rebates but they will help us all by giving all Qld electricity consuming households a fixed grant, (free money) to alleviate some of the effect of the cost in retail energy. … Nice …
It’s standard Hegelian Dialectics. Problem, reaction, solution. They create the increase; everyone is shocked and stressed and THEY come to the rescue by giving back some of what THEY took in the first place. Of course, the cost of goods and services that factor in electricity costs will increase but that’s what we call inflation.
Coronado Global Resources Inc. that owns the Curragh mine is an Australia-based international producer of metallurgical coal. It has operations in Australia and the United States. You can read more in the attached link but enough to say they are a multinational company with connections and a big financial turnover. Not everyone is keen for the connection between corporate government agencies and private corporations, like August Landmesser who decided not to show support for a similar regime back in 1935. (see pic) Obviously a conspiracy theorist. Luckily, he was arrested and dealt with accordingly.
List of Government owned corporations here:
https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/queenslands-economy/government-owned-corporations/
In Australia we have a mixture of corporations doing business in every profitable business sector. These enterprises include Australian Federal Government owned corporations, Australian State Government owned corporations, private, but Australian-based corporations, foreign government owned corporations and privately-owned foreign corporations.
In the electricity industry supplying power into Australia’s east coast electricity grid is Vales Point Power Station located in New South Wales, owned by Sunset Power International from China. Also in that mix, located in Victoria, is Loy Yang A Power Station which is owned by Alinta Energy which is Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. These corporations are not in this game to supply to you the cheapest electricity possible.
Getting back to my home state, a question posed on a forum I thought relevant was, “Given that Queenslanders own the coal fired power stations and each is on a long-term coal contract why the hell are Qld wholesale prices through the roof? Please explain”. The question within the forum is rhetorical.
Everything, including electrical energy has been commodified, and goods and services in a “free” marketplace, (even if and maybe especially if you have a monopoly) must be sold for the highest price that the market will bear.
It’s not personal, … it’s just business and Queenslanders don’t own the coal fired power stations, the government does.
Electricity prices ARE going up, …. BUT …. our state Government will look after us because we have been assured by Annastacia Palaszczuk in Parliament on 15 March 2023 how this will happen.
She advised the Speaker that, “Today I can confirm that our government will be delivering another rebate on household power bills next financial year. We are committed, Mr Speaker, to providing more support to households to help with the impacts of global inflation. I can announce today that will extend the power rebate to all households and our cost-of-living relief will be higher than $175 rebate we provided last year. The final rebate will be determined based on the federal government’s support and the final power prices. The strength of our economy provides Queensland a budget capacity to support Queensland with the cost of living”. Annastacia Palaszczuk 15 March Parliament. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-16/energy-price-rises-explained-queensland-customers/102098580
The state government advises that they’re going to give us back some of the money they are responsible for having been taken from us in the first place to help relieve the increase in electricity prices, produced at facilities that the government own which will help alleviate the impact of global inflation apparently caused by someone somewhere else.
State Government money handouts are plentiful and apparently welcomed.
Free money that someone, unknown must pay for. The source of this money is the taxpayer and electricity consumer as the Qld Government has the increased royalties, three-fold on the previous year, which has to paid for, and is done so with the increase in wholesale electricity prices.
It’s simple enough for Jethro Bodine to understand.
In this week’s district newspaper, an article entitled, ” State Government makes Kindy free for families”, advises that an additional $645 million will be added to an existing program totalling $2 billion over 4 years to make Kindy free for families. Statistically that will save the average family with kindy age kids around $4,600 a year. I would assume most people who have young children or who will struggle to pay the increased electricity bill will be standing up and yelling Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil as loudly as they can.
Please don’t think this is textbook communism just because it looks like it.
These problems and solutions are caused and fixed by big corporations doing business with government corporations.
Does anyone think the Qld electricity rebate is to give “more support to households to help with the impacts of global inflation”, and that it will be to the full extent of the increase in cost production because of the three-fold increase in royalties paid to The QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT. Why increase production costs thereby precipitating a consumer cost increase, herein after referred to as “global inflation”, when things could have just stayed the same if the Government was sincere in providing “more support to households”.
So, why did the price of retail electricity go up 30% on 1 July 2023?
Mussolini (Benito Mussolini) is recorded as having quoted that Fascism is simply “Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power” https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/204842963/1292628717
Well, he ought to know because he came up with the term. This article is looking more like it was written by someone with a view like August Landmesser and we know what happened to him.
Merriam-Webster changed their dictionary definition of “fascism” in 1987 to censor links between its new corporate owner and fascists. What was happening was becoming more obvious to the August Landmessers’ of the world.
Eventually everyone will wake up, but a simple definition review will slow the avalanche for a time. Of course, once any cancer gets a hold on any organism, there is always a gauntlet to be negotiated which takes time and involves many casualties. Totalitarian regimes aren’t established overnight but they, like any opportunistic parasite, find fertile soil several generations after the last one was dealt with in a way that it could never happen again. They get a foothold and flourish in any society, even in small social groups, when the majority hold the view that that would never happen here, or that these take overs only happen in other countries or other communities or social groups.
Mussolini created the word “fascism” and defined it as “the merging of the state and the corporation.” He also said a more accurate word would be “corporatism”. You can confirm that quote from many sources including a report called, “Privatization: An Affront to the Indian Constitution” which can be downloaded here, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjmrru99uT_AhUaVWwGHeGFAmgQFnoECBIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Freclaimtherepublicin.files.wordpress.com%2F2021%2F11%2Finterim-report-final.pdf&usg=AOvVaw10KAAVKxpEgRtuDEuJKKbj&opi=89978449, where it highlights the predatorial nature of corporations and the costs endured by the public, the peasants the, workers and those useless eaters.
“Fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power. — Benito Mussolini
The concept of fascism is dependent on the merger of corporations with the state. The power inherent in government is combined with corporate power. This brings the majority of power in a nation under a small group of individuals. This is known as an oligarchy. It is this combination of government and corporations that truly defines the concept of fascism”. https://soapboxie.com/government/What-Is-Corporate-Fascism-Is-The-Government-Of-The-United-States-a-Fascist-Form-Of-Governance Learn more here: https://distributistreview.com/archive/end-corporate-government-collusion
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism
Am I implying that any group in Australia is fascist or even heading that way.
Its not my job to do that.
You can decide for yourself if any of the Qld Corporations walk like a duck.
To do the google search, “What is the relationship between fascism and corporatism?”, will provide, “Corporatism became one of the main tenets of fascism, and Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy advocated the collective management of the economy by state officials by integrating large interest groups under the state, which is a combination of crony capitalism and state capitalism …” ; further the search asked and answered, “What is the most extreme form of capitalism?”,“Crony capitalism, sometimes called cronyism, is an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather as a return on money amassed through collusion between a business class and the political class”.
That only happens in other countries, … correct…?
Queensland has eight coal-fired power stations. The stations at Callide B, Kogan Creek, Stanwell, Tarong, Tarong North, are owned by the State. Gladstone and Millmerran are privately owned, and Callide C is a joint venture between state and the private corporation, IG Power.
CS Energy is the state component of Callide C. If you google, “Is CS Energy government owned?” you will get this, “As a Queensland Government-Owned Corporation we have a responsibility to our shareholder to do business legally, ethically and responsibly. We are committed to achieving high standards of conduct and performance in everything we do”.
That sound OK to me.
Incidentally, Gladstone Power Station at Callemondah, is Queensland’s largest electricity generator with six coal powered steam turbines that can generate up to 1,680 MW of electricity. With that supply capacity, is it possible that they would have any effect on the cost of wholesale electricity or even have the capacity to influence wholesale prices. Asking for a friend?
The state owns 5 of the 8 coal fired power stations valued at $35 billion.
The Palaszczuk government promised $62 billion to close Queensland’s coal-fired power stations.
Wouldn’t that devalue state owned assets?
In this article, (links included) More than $1 billion wiped off value of Queensland coal and gas power stations, it looks like the carnage has begun. Michael Mazengarb 4 February 2021
More than $1 billion has been wiped off the value of Queensland government owned coal and gas generators, as falling electricity demand and the growth of wind and solar slash profits, with the Queensland Audit Office warning that further cuts are in store.
A new report published by the Queensland Audit Office has detailed how more than $1 billion has been wiped off the value of Queensland government owned fossil fuelled generators, as falling wholesale electricity prices slash generator profits.
“The profits of the transmission and distribution businesses continue to decline. This is largely driven by decisions of the Australian Energy Regulator to reduce the revenue they can earn from their core business activities. We expect to see this trend continue in the next financial year.”
https://reneweconomy.com.au/more-than-1-billion-wiped-off-value-of-queensland-coal-and-gas-power-stations/
So, why did the price of retail electricity go up by 30% on 1 July 2023? Don’t get me started.
John Lynn
June 2023