Electricity market fix

The Committee for Greater Shepparton says there is a great opportunity for Greater Shepparton manufacturers to get a competitive edge, if some of the expected benefits from a recommended overhaul to the national electricity market become a reality.

Households could save more than $400 a year on power bills under a proposed major reset of Australia’s ‘‘broken’’ electricity market.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released its long-awaited report into the energy sector on Wednesday, detailing ways to tackle skyrocketing power costs.

Businesses could also save up to $750 a year, and even as much as $2250 if they shop around for the best discounts.

C4GS chief executive Sam Birrell said slashing energy prices would benefit household consumers as well as present lucrative opportunities for the Goulburn Valley’s major employers and producers.

More than two million small and medium businesses could save an average of 24 per cent on their bills under the ACCC’s recommendations.

Commercial and industrial customers could have electricity costs drop by 26 per cent.

Mr Birrell said if such decreases came to pass, it would mark a ‘‘huge win for local production’’ and the potential for competitive advantage in foreign markets.

‘‘Particularly those who are competing against people with different power input costs,’’ he said.

‘‘It levels the playing field, for fruit packaging, milk factories, with our competitors.’’

Mr Birrell pointed to significantly higher labour and transport costs in Australia compared with competitors.

‘‘If we have significantly higher power costs and water costs, there comes a point where you’re no longer competitive.’’

‘‘Anything that can be done to reduce any of those inputs while retaining quality can be beneficial to those businesses,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re probably not going to reduce labour costs, therefore we need to automate more, be more efficient . . . that requires energy.’’

Mr Birrell described Greater Shepparton as a manufacturing city and suggested manufacturing in the Goulburn Valley could be on the increase during the next five years.

‘‘And one of major inputs to manufacturing is energy,’’ he said.

‘‘Provision of energy is not a free market service.’’

‘‘It’s a critical input to business that drives the Australian economy, and in particular in a manufacturing region such as ours.’’

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said he estimated bills could drop up to 25 per cent for the average household if the report’s 56 recommendations were all implemented.

He said a decade of poor policy decisions had caused serious affordability problems for consumers and businesses.

‘‘The national electricity market is largely broken and needs to be reset,’’ he said.

A key measure would be forcing retailers to offer a benchmark price near the middle of the market.

Story by Thomas Moir from the Shepparton News - “Electricity market fix.”

Electric hybrid car emits four times more CO₂ than advertised, real-world testing shows

A purportedly eco-friendly hybrid electric car emits four times more greenhouse gas than manufacturers claim, according to a report backed by Australia's motoring heavyweights that opens up a new front in the nation's energy policy tussle.

Michael Bradley from the Australian
Automobile Association, which has
 released a new report into vehicle emissions. 

The report by the Australian Automobile Association, members of which include the NRMA and RACV and RACQ, says real-world testing reveals some new cars are using up to 59 per cent more fuel than advertised. Almost six in 10 exceeded the regulated limit for one or more pollutant in cold-start tests.

The AAA says consumers are being "increasingly ripped off", forking out for vehicle technology that cuts emissions in the laboratory, but not on the road.

It says the findings cast doubt on whether more stringent vehicle emissions laws – a move being considered by the Turnbull government – would reduce pollution and lower fuel use.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Electric hybrid car emits four times more CO₂ than advertised, real-world testing shows.”

Fossil Fuel Associations Scramble to Quit Kids Climate Lawsuit Before Discovery Deadline

In an unusual procedural move, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers filed motions Thursday requesting the court's permission to withdraw from the Juliana v. US climate lawsuit, brought by 21 young people. The associations are following the lead of the National Association of Manufacturers, who filed a similar motion to withdraw on May 22.

Now, all three trade association intervenor defendants have filed motions to withdraw from the case, evading last night's discovery deadline. These motions are especially unusual after numerous legal efforts have tried to get a federal court in Oregon to throw out the lawsuit. For any defendant to leave the litigation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin must grant permission.

"API and its members will not come clean on the facts of climate change because they know it exposes them to liability for the damage they too have caused to the global climate system," Julia Olson, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs and executive director of Our Children's Trust, said.

"After these youths sued the government, the trade associations pleaded their members' interests would be destroyed if they weren't allowed to be in the case, but now they are running for the hills. Now, they've decided they're better off being on the sidelines than subjecting themselves to discovery,.”

When youth plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in August 2015, only the federal government and government agencies were named as defendants. In November 2015, the associations intervened in the case on the side of the U.S. government defendants, calling the lawsuit a "direct threat to [their] businesses.”

Read the EcoWatch story - “Fossil Fuel Associations Scramble to Quit Kids Climate Lawsuit Before Discovery Deadline.”