Energy illiteracy stopping Australians from cutting power bills

A lack of trust in electricity retailers and energy illiteracy is slowing Australians in driving down their power costs.

Rising power bill prices have changed the way
 many Australians are consuming energy.

A survey carried out in April of more than 1000 people in Sydney and Melbourne found people had less trust in power companies to act in the public interest than both banking and the media, and they want electricity companies to provide them more information to help control energy usage but don't know enough about the technology available to help themselves.

Read Cole Latimer’s story from The Age - “Energy illiteracy stopping Australians from cutting power bills.”

NEG’s new framework may raise costs, industry groups say

Energy industry groups are concerned the National Energy Guarantee may create barriers for new companies entering the electricity market and fail to cut power costs.

Industry groups warned that the NEG may make it more
 difficult for competition in the energy market.

It comes as stakeholders gathered on Monday to discuss the framework for the NEG at the Energy Security Board public forum.

The public forum examined the different design options for the National Energy Guarantee and sought to act as a vehicle for discussion to achieve what ESB deputy chairwoman, Clare Savage, called "a high-level model for the COAG Energy Council" rather than showcasing a final result.

Read Cole Latimer’s story in The Age - “NEG’s new framework may raise costs, industry groups say.”

Think twice before going 'off the grid'

Australia is currently experiencing soaring power costs that are dramatically intersecting with the increasing availability of affordable and efficient renewable energy, such as solar panels and battery storage units.

The Solar Settlement, a sustainable housing community project in Freiburg, Germany. 

So why wouldn’t it seem attractive, even liberating, to take your home and yourself “off the grid”?

You could draw your electricity from your roof via an inexhaustible sun, while saving dollars and escaping gouging corporate providers. At the same time, you’d be doing your bit for the environment.

Perhaps, as a step further, you could take a small community of like-minded people with you.

Certainly, Australians are embracing solar.

Read the Pursuit piece by Gary Tippett from the University of Melbourne “Think twice before going 'off the grid'.”

Infrastructure costs are what gives our "Infrastructure Prime Minister' a leg up

Tony Abbott wants to be known at the “Infrastructure Prime Minister”.

Oddly, and in a strange turn of events, it was infrastructure costs that catapulted him and the Liberal/National Parties into power.

Mr Abbott and his coalition cohorts constantly blamed the Labor Party introduced carbon tax for the massive increases in power costs, when it was actually the unrestrained investment on infrastructure in their infrastructure that ignited the massive rises in power costs.

Cost increases attributed to the much maligned carbon tax were miniscule compared, while the real driver of cost increases was a huge investment by power companies on their respective infrastructures.

In a story headed: “Power Corrupts” The Monthly tells us how network companies lined their pockets and drove electricity prices through the roof.