Origin shareholders deliver stunning statement on anti-climate lobbying

Australian shareholders on Wednesday delivered a stunning statement to the Australian energy industry, when nearly half voted in support of a motion at the Origin Energy annual general meeting demanding the utility report on whether lobbying groups it supports are obstructing action on climate change.

Stunning statement at Origin Energy annual general meeting.

The resolution at the Origin AGM was supported by 46 per cent of votes, which analysts and campaigners said was a remarkable result given the first-time nature of the resolution, and the biggest ever protest vote not supported by a company board.

The company had earlier sought to defuse the issue by promising that in future documents it would improve the disclosure of its industry association memberships, including how it defines its public advocacy.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson from RenewEconomy - “Origin shareholders deliver stunning statement on anti-climate lobbying."

Origin says solar cheaper than coal, moving on from base-load

Origin Energy says the cost of wind and solar farms has fallen so far it is now cheaper than the marginal cost of coal generation, and the company is moving on from the concept of “24/7 base-load”.

Wind and solar is cheaper than the marginal cost of coal generation.

The assessment was made by Greg Jarvis, the company’s head of energy trading and operations, in an interview for RenewEconomy’s popular Energy Insiders podcast, published on Tuesday.

“I have been in this game for so long … the one thing I have seen is just the cost of renewables really change the game,” Jarvis says. “It is amazing what we have been seeing.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson from RenewEconomy - “Origin says solar cheaper than coal, moving on from base-load.”

Electricity companies to write to a million households by Christmas to offer better deal

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will demand electricity companies write to a million households by Christmas to offer them cheaper power plans.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will meet with
electricity company bosses in Sydney on Wednesday.
He toured the Snowy Hydro power station on Monday.

The demand will be made at a meeting between Mr Turnbull and big power companies including Energy Australia, Momentum Energy, Simply Energy, Alinta Energy, Origin Energy, AGL, Australian Energy Council and Snowy Hydro in Sydney on Wednesday and will likely be agreed to.

The meeting is the second between the Prime Minister and these companies in three weeks and, politically, it will allow Mr Turnbull to argue he is taking action to reduce pressure on households struggling with high power bills.

The companies will also be asked to explain how they will make it easier for families to switch plans and providers, while letting people move to monthly billing cycles more easily will also be discussed.

Read James Massola’s story in today Melbourne Age - “Electricity companies to write to a million households by Christmas to offer better deal.”

Turnbull targets power companies over bills, generators call for Clean Energy Target

Power companies have blamed a decade of political uncertainty in Canberra for sharp rises in power prices, and implored the Turnbull government to adopt a proposed Clean Energy Target.

Treasurer Scott Morrison, Prime Minister Malcolm
 Turnbull and Minister for Environment and Energy
Josh Frydenberg address the media on Wednesday. 

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Treasurer Scott Morrison and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg met eight power companies - Energy Australia, Momentum Energy, Simply Energy, Alinta Energy, Origin Energy, AGL, Australian Energy Council and Snowy Hydro - on Wednesday to discuss sky rocketing electricity prices.

While the meeting was supposed to focus on retail power prices, according to sources in the meeting "the point was made more than once that a Clean Energy Target was needed to give the sector certainty to invest”.

Mr Turnbull confirmed the proposed Clean Energy Target was discussed but said retail prices had been the primary focus.

Read James Masola’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Turnbull targets power companies over bills, generators call for Clean Energy Target.”

Malcolm Turnbull has little chance of keeping energy bills under control

It's never my policy to feel sorry for any politician, so let's just say I wouldn't like to be in Malcolm Turnbull's shoes when he meets the electricity retailers he's summoned to Canberra on Wednesday.

His hope is to persuade them to do more to help their customers find the best prices on offer, so that any savings customers make reduce, to some extent, the further big price rises that are on the way.

Illustration: Andrew Dyson 

Trouble is, it's long been the practice of many big businesses – telcos, internet service providers, electricity retailers – to make it as hard as possible for their household customers to find the "plan" that meets their needs most economically, and also to take advantage of any trusting customer on a more expensive plan than they need.

So, whatever noises they make after their meeting with the Prime Minister, I can't see the likes of Energy Australia, Origin Energy and AGL – which between them have about 70 per cent of the retail market – volunteering to help their customers pay less.

Read the comment piece by Ross Gittins in today’s Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull has little chance of keeping energy bills under control.”

Gas industry leaders persist in promoting a fallacy

The gas industry is arguing that its product
is "critical and central
 to the decarbonisation of the world.

leaders have declared the fuel is essential to meeting emissions reductions targets and improving security of supply as they seek to turn around slowing demand growth that is contributing to some of the weakest prices for years in the LNG export market.

Origin Energy chief executive Grant King said gas was "absolutely critical and central to the decarbonisation of the world in the next 50 years", and said those turning their back entirely on fossil fuels were putting supply security at risk.

Gas stepped into the breach after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and is now saving Tasmania from energy shortages after the breakdown of the Basslink power cable, Mr King said ahead of the LNG18 conference in Perth.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Gas industry leaders go into battle for LNG.”

(Of course, the gas industry leaders would be claiming their product was "absolutely critical and central to the decarbonisation of the world in the next 50 years", but gas is still a fossil fuel, like coal and all the other energy sources arising from fossil fuels, it emits carbon dioxide, and allows for the maintenance of a life-style which is contrary to a way of living that we will have to arrive at if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

By law, the first and largely only responsibility those gas industry leaders have is to the financial wellbeing (profit) of their company and the idea that they might actively pursue the health and welfare of the planet ahead of those perverse, confusing commercial realities is nigh on impossible – Robert McLean.)

Origin Energy plunges into solar pool

The Moree solar farm in New South Wales.

Origin Energy has signed up for its first ever contract to purchase electricity from a large-scale solar project in a further sign that the renewable energy sector is coming back to life after being effectively stalled over the past few years.

The utility has committed to a 15-year deal to buy all the output of a $164 million solar venture built by a Spanish company and already operating near the northern NSW town of Moree. The purchase will help meet Origin's liability under the 2020 Renewable Energy Target legislation, which was revised last year.

Players in the wind and solar power sector have been noting a renewed surge of interest in the Australian renewable energy sector after the Turnbull government's support for the RET helped drive a rise in the prices of renewable energy certificates, which underpin the target. But the latest deal won't kick-start a new project given Fotowatio Renewable Ventures had already built the solar farm with the backing of US private equity firm Denham Capital as well as with funding from government agencies.

Read Angela Macdonald-Smith’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Origin Energy to buy swathe of solar power output.”

AGL's energy climate change commitments take heat our AGM

A

GL Energy's latest climate change commitments have taken the heat out of a shareholder resolution to be put to the annual general meeting on Wednesday, but the company is still under pressure to show how it will live up to its pledges while attention is turning to rival Origin Energy to follow suit.

The commitments adopted by the country's biggest carbon emitter, announced last Friday, leave coal seam gas as the main bone of contention between environmental activists and AGL, with protesters set to target the AGM to show opposition to the controversial Gloucester project in NSW's mid-north.

They have also exposed the policy vacuum that energy companies are operating in as they seek to preserve value in their electricity and gas supply businesses in a world moving more firmly to capping carbon.

Read Angela Macdonald-Smith’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “AGL Energy deflects climate change heat ahead of AGM”.