PROFLIGATE ENERGY MARKET NURTURES POLLUTERS

Last Updated on Friday, 09 October 2009 11:03 Tuesday, 29 September 2009 14:13

Climate change policies for renewable energy, smart power and energy efficiency will continue to be hindered by energy market regulators, Total Environment Centre (TEC) said today, after a disappointing final report on our electricity networks from the Australian Energy Market Commission(AEMC) was released yesterday.

“The head in the sand approach continues to dominate Australia’s largest source of greenhouse emissions,” said Tee Lim, Environmental and Energy Market Campaigner at TEC. “Stymied by the pollute-as-usual directives from federal and state energy ministers, the AEMC has bowed to energy utilities that want to keep smart energy solutions out in the cold while they keep building poles and wires.”

The AEMC approach will maintain the veneer of ‘technology neutrality’, while favouring polluting infrastructure (more poles and wires) and discouraging clean energy efficiency proponents. The report recommends trivial expanded planning and reporting requirements, but with few specific guidelines as to what must be included, and no enforcement or oversight by regulators of demand management and energy efficiency approaches.

“The recommended increased threshold from $1 million to $5 million for testing the suitability of new infrastructure investments means that billions of dollars of investments will now escape under the radar with little scrutiny - up to 40% of them. Energy consumers should be very concerned: almost half of the average electricity bill is for poles and wires. But with little regulatory oversight consumers can’t be confident that checks and balances are in place,” Mr Lim said.

“The weak Demand Side Engagement Strategy is a poor response to the embarrassing lack of demand management in the energy market. It’s like getting the fox to guard the hen house: more infrastructure, higher bills, more pollution and more revenue for energy companies.”