Queensland needs energy certainty to bring down prices

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has proposed to raise maximum retail electricity prices by up to 3.7 per cent in South East Queensland from 1 July.

The Default Market Offer (DMO) cost increases are largely due to continued increases in electricity contract prices, reflecting risks such as the high rate of outages at the state's coal-fired power stations and increased network costs due to inflation.

In response, the Queensland Conservation Council are calling on the Queensland Government to reduce these risks and lock in lower prices in future by setting a clear energy plan, committing to retiring Queensland's ageing coal power stations at their end-of-life, and getting on with building more renewable energy backed by storage.

Queensland Conservation Council's Energy Strategist Clare Silcock said

Queensland's ageing coal power stations broke down a staggering 78 times over the last summer period. We simply cannot depend on our coal clunkers anymore, and their unreliability is driving up wholesale power prices and the costs of forward contracts that retailers will pass onto consumers.

The AER has previously pointed out that outages at coal fired power stations contributed to high prices over the last summer, and renewable energy backed by storage has played a key role in stabilising wholesale prices. It's clear from these findings that the Queensland Government needs to focus on delivering more clean, affordable energy supply for Queenslanders.

It's astounding that Queensland’s Energy Minister David Janetzki is talking about wasting billions of taxpayer dollars to keep coal stations like Callide B on life support past their planned retirement dates.

That money would be much better spent helping more Queenslanders access affordable solar and storage to immediately bring down their bills.

We're calling on the Queensland Government to put ideology aside and do what’s in the best interests of Queenslanders.

If the Crisafulli Government is serious about delivering affordable and reliable energy they need to urgently release a plan for replacing Queensland's failing coal stations with renewable energy backed by storage.

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