Dutton Pushes Albanese On Electricity Prices: WTF?

Opposition leader Peter Dutton challenging PM Albanese on electricity prices yesterday was astounding given the Coalition should still be sitting very quietly in the naughty corner on this issue.

During Question Time, Peter Dutton asked Prime Minister Albanese to tell Australian families whether power prices will be higher or lower when they get their next electricity bill.

Mr. Dutton already knows the answer to that as do many Australians – power prices have gone up, and are likely to continue to for some time. A bright spot for owners of solar power systems is aside from the buffer their solar panels will provide, feed-in tariff rates will be increasing for some.

While the writing has been on the wall for a while regarding wholesale electricity prices and the impact that would have on power bills, many Australians found out about the impact weeks later than they usually would. And it would seem that was thanks to the Morrison Government being desperate to hold on to power.

Electricity prices have been a hot-button election topic for many years. In the lead-up to the Federal election in May, Australian voters were missing out on some very important related information.

Default Market Offer Details Delayed Pre-Election

Usually the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) releases changes to Default Market Offer (DMO) details for South Australia, New South Wales and south-east Queensland on May 1 each year. The DMO sets the scene for all electricity market offers, and what happens in those regions can be indicative of what may happen outside them.

But the publishing of those details was delayed this year, and the timing was at best suspicious.

According to Prime Minister Albanese, a minister he didn’t name went to the Governor General to get him to sign off on a determination to delay the publication of the default market offer for energy prices, which the GG signed on March 31. According to who was Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction in the Morrison Government – Angus Taylor –  he has previously indicated nothing suss was going on. Apparently, the request was made to give the AER more time to crunch numbers.

On April 7, the determination came into effect and then the election was called on April 10.

The election was held on May 21 and the AER’s determination – which indicated residential default market offer prices would increase between 8.5% and 18.3% in NSW, 11.3% to 12.6% in south-east QLD and 7.2% to 9.5% in SA, was published on May 26.

“..  those opposite … couldn’t even be straight with the Australian people about the higher power prices that they locked in,” said Prime Minister Albanese yesterday.

It was a *very* whiffy state of affairs and Labor is entitled to call, and continue to call, the Coalition out on it – because it’s something Australians should remember come the next election.

But PM Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen won’t be able to get mileage from pointing the finger forever. A few high quarterly electricity bills and Australian households and business won’t care who did what, when – just what is being done about it. For struggling Australians, that moment has likely already arrived.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/dutton-albanese-electricity-mb2577/