Energy bills set to drop under “game-changing” plan
Household budgets are set to receive a small annual boost of an average $110 to $115 from 2020 with Malcolm Turnbull announcing a new “game-changing” national energy guarantee. According to the proposal, the government would deliver affordable, reliable power while still cutting emissions.
The new policy would scrap subsidies for renewables and remove penalties for coal to ensure “a level playing field”, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop appeared on ABC Radio yesterday morning to voice her strong support. “The whole mechanism is geared toward reliability but it ties it to environmental policies, so for the first time we have energy policy and environmental policy working together to guarantee reliability of supply,” she said.
“It will make it more affordable and it will also enable us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with our international obligations.”
But despite meeting the country’s Paris climate change commitments, it will not meet the Clean Energy Target recommended by Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, which would see a certain percentage of power generated by renewable sources.
Kane Thornton from the Clean Energy Council expressed her concerns as to how the plan would achieve the required emission reductions outlined in the Paris agreement, explaining the old coal-fired power stations were unsustainable due to their age.
“If we are keeping old generation in the market, if we are slowing down the deployment of renewables, then it is difficult to see how we achieve the sort of emission reductions that we need to deliver on our Paris commitments,” he said.
“Obviously we are disappointed that the Clean Energy Target has been dropped, it had very broad and strong support right across the business and energy sector.”
Labor has criticised Turnbull’s new plan as a win for the former Prime Minister, with opposition frontbencher Jason Clare declaring, “the transformation from Malcolm Turnbull to Tony Abbott now seems complete”.
“Remember Malcolm Turnbull appointed the Chief Scientist, asked him for a report, said his proposal was the right one and now after Tony Abbott makes a speech about sacrificing goats in London, he is running away from that at 100 miles an hour.”