Cheap gas is gone' - stark warnings over gas shortage

Consumers and businesses will face higher gas prices as long as southern states ban gas exploration.

A hold on onshore development in NSW and Victoria is pushing up gas prices.

In sharp commentary on the issue on Wednesday Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fingering moratoriums on gas exploration in NSW and Victoria as exacerbating a tight supply situation.

Read Cole Latimer’s story in The Age - “’Cheap gas is gone' - stark warnings over gas shortage.”

(Energy, particularly that derived from fossil fuels, is at the nexus of climate change and so rather than figuring out how we can find and use gas, at a cheaper price, we should be exploring ways and means of living without using gas at all - Robert McLean)

Gas giant bills threat: price hikes of up to $430 predicted

Australian households could be paying as much as $430 more for electricity by the end of next year unless wholesale gas prices are brought under control, according to a new report that warns the Turnbull government's energy policies are falling short.

Australia is one of the world's largest gas exporters. 

Policy analysts at the McKell Institute have for the first time modelled the impact of wholesale gas prices on household power bills in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland - finding consumers are already paying between $100 and $200 more than what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission considers reasonable.

Read Adam Gartrell’s story in the Age - “Gas giant bills threat: price hikes of up to $430 predicted.”

Memo to COAG: Australia is already awash with gas

Federal, state and territory energy ministers are gathering today in Brisbane for the tenth meeting of the COAG Energy Council. In the wake of the Finkel Review, and against a backdrop of rising electricity and gas prices, they have much to  electricity and gas prices, they have much to discuss.

The controversial Narrabri coal seam gas project. Australia has plenty
of gas reserves that are cheaper to develop and a safer bet.

Some of the focus will certainly be on gas policy and prices. Earlier this week, the federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, argued that state governments should develop their onshore gas reserves to relieve pressure on the gas market.

Victoria and the Northern Territory both have bans on onshore gas development, introduced partly to protect prime farming land.

Controversially, federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly suggested on Thursday that pressure from renewable resources on energy prices meant that “people will die” this winter if they’re afraid to turn on their heating.

Yet it is gas generation, not renewables, that typically sets the price in the electricity market. As Fairfax reported yesterday, electricity prices move up and down with the gas price, almost exactly in tandem.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Researcher from the Australian German Climate and Energy College at University of Melbourne,  Dylan McConnell -  “Memo to COAG: Australia is already awash with gas.”