The Greens say “naming and shaming” of electricity retailers who fail to pass on Default Market Offer savings is not enough, and the Government should instead cancel their licences.
It comes as South-East Queensland customers face bill hikes from private retailers like Origin, contradicting the Premier and Treasurer’s promises of savings in this week’s Budget. Only customers of Ergon Energy, a state government owned energy retailer that services regional areas, are guaranteed the savings that the Government is spruiking, as it no longer has any power to direct other retailers to pass on those savings.
Michael Berkman MP, Greens MP for Maiwar:
“No one’s naming the reason your bills are going up, but I will: privatisation.
“If the Government really wanted to ensure lower energy bills for all Queenslanders, they would bring the system into public ownership.
“The faux concern from the Premier and the Treasurer is pretty insulting when they have the power to actually fix the problem, by cancelling these greedy companies’ licences.
“The only reason that some regional customers are getting energy bill relief is because they’re with the state’s sole remaining publicly owned retailer, since Labor privatised retail in 2006.
“Prices everywhere else in the state are higher because private retailers like AGL, Origin and Alinta exist to make a profit, not just deliver electricity.
“This is the problem with privatising an essential service like power or water - only a publicly owned energy retailer can guarantee lower prices on your bills.”
The Greens plan to bring down power bills by reversing privatisation:
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End the privatisation of electricity retail by cancelling the licences of private retailers like Origin, AGL and Alinta, bringing it back into public hands under Energy Queensland as a democratic, single public authority covering retail, generation and networks
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Scrap Howard-era rules which require state owned energy companies to behave like private corporations and artificially inflate their prices, and reinvest dividends into savings for bill-payers
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Invest in 100% publicly owned renewable energy to put lasting downwards pressure on power bills