Investor News

Can we reboot the NEM?

A recent article by Tony Shepherd, the chairman of the panel that wrote the report 'Power Off Power On: Rebooting the National Energy Market' ($), cuts to the heart of our current problem, touching on the broad factors causing our energy affordability and reliability crisis.

Tony's comments resonate with billpayers:

"… this pain is self-inflicted. This is not market failure, but political failure. It is probably the most expensive policy blunder in our life times. Fixing this mess will not be easy. It requires a focused and concerted response from governments, Commonwealth, state and territory, who should stop their parochial political games to work in the national interest or more importantly the interests of the average Australian."

He goes on to highlight:

"Crucially, we say governments should stop picking winners. We should be technologically agnostic and let the market decide the best solution, be it wind, solar, hydro, gas, coal or storage. We should have a serious debate about uranium as a medium to long-term solution."

Energy affordability and reliability underpin economic security. Economic security underpins the ability to pay for the development of low and zero-emission technologies.

For a solution to be environmentally sustainable, it must be economically sustainable. We need to get the balance between affordability, reliability and emissions right.

Read more…

Federal Minister for Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg. Picture: Sam Rosewarne

‘Panicky’ plan to avoid blackouts illogical

The Australian | 1 December 2017 | Tony Shepherd

The panicky piecemeal measures to avoid blackouts across eastern Australia this summer vividly illustrate the illogicality of most energy policies these days, and the exorbitant costs they impose on consumers...

Source: ‘Panicky’ plan to avoid blackouts illogical