NORTH POWER FAILS GREENHOUSE TEST - AGAIN

Monday, 26 March 2001 10:00

"Only two companies - Integral Energy and Origin - met and bettered the official target. The rest, including Energy Australia, North Power and Ergon, did worse than last year - by up to 15%. It is time for the Government to introduce penalties and embarrassing public exposure programs on these tardy companies," said Jeff Angel, Director of Total Environment Centre.
"North Power is a gross underperformer.

And it appears intent on burning biomass, including native forest material as an answer. This makes the situation worse. Information of this type will inform environmentally conscious consumers when choosing their electricity supplier in the competitive market that begins in 2002."

"Those companies that failed to reach the target in fact, performed worse than the previous year. They are on a downward slide and so is global climate change. It is the height of irresponsibility and should be condemned by the government and the community," Mr Angel said.

The annual greenhouse audit was undertaken by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal. The greenhouse benchmark is set at 5% below 1989/90 levels to be reached by 2001/02. The actual 1999/00 target was 7.27t per capita, with industry exceeding this with a figure of 8.03t per capita.

North Power exceeded it by 15%, Ergon by 13% and Energy Australia by 8%. The industry only achieved one third of its projected savings from energy efficiency programs and produced less low emission energy than promised.