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19th August, 2010

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is under fire for cutting more than $400 million from renewable energy - despite promising to boost the sector.

Since the day she took the top job, Ms Gillard has consistently promised to do more to help clean energy.

In a speech to the National Press Club on Thursday she vowed to "continue our record investments in solar and renewable energy".

But Ms Gillard has cut $416 million from renewable energy, from large solar-powered power stations and solar hot water heaters. It's been redirected to the "cash for clunkers" scheme and green farming.

Greens climate spokeswoman Christine Milne said it wasn't good enough.

"Despite promising record investment in renewable energy, Prime Minister Gillard has used this election campaign to pull funding out of renewable energy at a record rate," Ms Milne said in a statement.

She also accused the coalition of emulating some of Labor's cuts to renewable energy.

Ms Gillard said she stood by her climate policies when quizzed at the Press Club.

She focussed on the benefits of her $1 billion, ten-year fund to green up the electricity grid, her plan to prevent some coal-fired power stations from being built, and "cash for clunkers".

"I believe our country and our planet are getting warmer and warmer and warmer and I believe we need to act, politicians and their fellow Australians working for change side by side," Ms Gillard said.

Labor announced on Thursday where $40 million of the renewable fund was going: harnessing the power of clean, baseload energy from "hot rocks" and waves.

The money is for geothermal energy - creating electricity from steam from "hot rocks" deep below the earth's surface - and wind energy. The Clean Energy Council said the funding was a "good start" but it was not enough to be a game-changer.

The coalition on Thursday announced new climate policies, including $10 million for green skills for farmers, and a program to provide solar panels for sports clubs, scouts and other not-for-profit organisations.

The coalition would also set voluntary energy-efficiency targets for the top 500 commercial energy consumers.

"Our policy confirms that we have a plan to tackle climate change, Julia Gillard has a plan for its whacky citizens' assembly," opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt told AAP.

"A coalition government supports a return to local community environmentalism."

 

Courtesy of SMH

28th July, 2010

As the community's interest in the environment has grown, so has recognition for those who do the right thing, writes Keeli Cambourne.

When the NSW government launched the Green Globe Awards in 1999, sustainability was something businesses rarely, if ever, considered.

There were very few sustainability policies in place, not many sustainability managers, and few people knew what an ecological footprint was.

In those first awards, winners were applauded for their moves to install energy-efficient lighting, dual-flush toilets, bike racks and timed light switches.

This year's winners are at the forefront of development and innovation and are using their expertise to educate the wider community on how to incorporate these practices into their own lives.

The awards highlight how individuals and organisations are thinking outside the box and making use of innovation, technology and staff engagement to act on the various, serious environmental challenges.

The NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Frank Sartor, has been involved with the awards since their inception and believes as environmental awareness continues to grow, they can only get bigger.

"The depth and scope of environmental work under way in NSW by business and other organisations doesn't surprise me at all, as I have had the good fortune to visit the factories and manufacturing plants where major projects, which tap into new technology, are under way," Sartor said.

"It's difficult to pinpoint a specific winner from over the years, as the Green Globes are all about innovation and excellence across a range of sectors. However, there are some companies, such as the Investa Property Group, who are consistently performing well and continuing to get better." The awards help meet the NSW State Plan to increase waste recycling, save 4000 gigawatt hours of annual electricity consumption by 2014, increase water recycling to 70 billion litres a year and save 145 billion litres of water annually by 2015.

"The participation of business in the many programs that the NSW government provides continues to increase," Sartor said. "More than 400 of the largest businesses in NSW have signed up to our Sustainability Advantage program and, in the past 18 months, more than 6000 small businesses have signed up for energy assessments under the Small Business Energy Efficiency Program."

The Green Globe Awards were initially known as the Energy Smart Business Awards to recognise organisations participating in the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Energy Smart business program.

They then expanded under the Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability to include water in 2005.

In 2007, the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water took over the awards and they were broadened beyond water and energy to honour and recognise the wider sustainability achievements of organisations.

The awards are open to individuals and organisations throughout NSW who can demonstrate outstanding environmental excellence in sustainability and climate change leadership, water, energy and waste savings, reduction of greenhouse emissions and adaptation to climate change.

This year, 104 entries were received – one of the highest numbers in the history of the event.

13th July, 2010

Energy Action is excited and proud to become a recent sponsor of a Delta Pet Therapy Team through Delta Society Australia. 

Our sponsored team, Mel & Nudie will be working with aged care facilities on a fortnightly basis, to help brighten the days of their residents.

Delta Society Australia is a non-profit organisation that promotes the social, physical and emotional benefits of positive interaction between people and companion animals. They work with over 600 health and aged care facilities across Australia many of whom are currently Energy Action clients.

Delta Pet Partner teams – trained volunteers and their accredited dogs - visit children’s and adult hospitals, rehabilitation units, mental health facilities, children with special needs and nursing homes.  Teams will visit any facility where re-establishing contact with a companion animal enhances the quality of patients’ and residents’ lives or assists in patients’ treatments, working with health professionals to achieve specific goals.

The Dogs are rigorously assessed for temperament and personality by Delta assessors prior to accreditation for the program and their volunteer owners are given professional training.  Delta dogs come from all breeds and in many sizes and their owners come from many backgrounds.  But they all share a common purpose in bringing some joy and happiness into the lives of sick children and adults, frail aged residents and those who are challenged physically or emotionally.  This joy and happiness has to be seen to be truly believed.

 

11th July, 2010

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard's refusal to set a carbon price will cost households an extra $2 billion a year in even higher electricity prices, a major report by top economists and power companies says.

The damning paper, obtained on the eve of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's expected policy announcement on climate change, forecasts that the Government's shelving of the emissions trading scheme will add an extra $60 a year to the average household bill.

Ms Gillard has ruled out setting a carbon price until at least 2012 but the report warns that the extra price rise for consumers is already locked in.The report, produced for the Climate Institute by some of the country's top energy providers and economists, including Westpac, KPMG, AGL, Pacific Hydro, General Electric and OgilvyEarth, says price rises over the next decade were already factored into future investment to meet rising demand for power.

The price rises are necessary, they claim, because investors refuse to fund any new coal-fired or open gas-fired base-load power plants as long as there is uncertainty over the price of pollution they emit.Instead, new power sources are being planned around gas-fired peaking power plants which are cheaper to build but more expensive to operate.

The results are based on a scenario where companies continue to build peaking power stations to meet growing demand, instead of intermediate and baseload power stations (such as combined cycle gas plants) which are more efficient, potentially less polluting and have lower running costs, said the economists in a statement.Across the economy, this equates to an approximate loss of about $2 billion a year to electricity consumers in 2020.For an average household, this means spending on electricity would increase by $60 a year up to 2020.

The research underscores that uncertainty around the price tag on pollution will increase electricity prices, hurt the economy and lift the cost of living.Without greater certainty and a clear, credible and detailed plan to reduce our economy's dependence on pollution and make clean energy cheaper, these costs will be locked in and will increase over time.Once these investments are made, their cost is effectively locked into the economy and is passed on to consumers.

Climate change policy and uncertainty about long-term policy settings is a critical factor in considering what type of power generation to build.Ms Gillard is expected to take her climate change policy to Cabinet on Tuesday.

 

The Australian

2nd January, 2010

PUTTING a price on carbon is the ''essential starting point'' in dealing with climate change, according to Australia's top economists. Asked as part of The Age Economic Survey what is the best way of tackling climate change, almost all respondents agreed that carbon must be priced so that there is an incentive for people to stop emitting greenhouse gases.

The view is at odds with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who has ruled out taking either a carbon trading scheme or a carbon tax to the election. Mr Abbott says he will instead look to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions through better land management and energy-efficiency measures.

Macquarie economist Richard Gibbs said Australia had ''little choice'' as the world's highest per capita emitter but to fully engage in global efforts to reduce emissions.

''Placing a cost on carbon emissions is a basic economic issue, which Australian policymakers need to address in a holistic and worldly way,'' he said.

Mr Gibbs said the world had moved past questioning whether global warming was occurring and was now focused on how best to limit the damage. ''Climate change is fundamentally an economic issue and therefore we should not allow ourselves to be hijacked by the scientific debate,'' he said.

Citi Group's Paul Brennan said not only would a carbon price modify behaviour but it would also stimulate investment in clean technology to assist those heavy emitters reduce their carbon footprints.

Where economists, and many in business, tend to differ is on the way to price carbon. Should it be a straight-up tax, which is much easier but would rise over time and would leave some uncertainty about how people would behave to a ceratin price point? Or do you introduce a new market, cap emissions at a certain level and allow those included in the scheme to trade the permits at fluctuating prices on a supply-and-demand basis?

Shane Oliver, AMP's chief economist, advocates an open and transparent market to bring about change.

''Using an emissions trading scheme is a good centrepiece to allow free market forces to work out the best way to reduce emissions over time,'' he said. ''But obviously regulation will be needed to ensure that it happens …''

ANZ's Warren Hogan says unless the details of the trading scheme are sound it could save a lot of time to simply implement a tax.

''Carbon emissions trading needed to be very well designed and executed in order to be effective and efficient,'' he said. ''As Professor Ross Garnaut has pointed out, a national carbon tax is probably preferable to a poorly designed carbon emissions trading scheme.''

However, Steve Keen, economics professor at the University of Western Sydney, is somewhat uncomfortable with linking environmental outcomes to economic instruments.

''I don't take seriously any of the market-based solutions being proposed - the cap-and-trade and so on - because they treat the ecology as something that is contained within and manipulable by the economy,'' he said.

Monash University's Jakob Madsen said a better understanding of economics would ensure any suggestion that action on climate change would lead to mass job losses and an economic downturn would be more quickly rebuffed.

''Many politicians and economists argue that any reductions in CO2 emissions are costly in terms of employment, welfare and output. However, this is a myth and reflects poor economic models and understanding of economics,'' he said.

 

Courtesy of The Age

17th March, 2008

YOU don't have to be very bright to pick holes in the arguments the NSW Government has been using to sell its plan to privatise electricity. But it seems you have to be wiser than some of our brightest economists to comprehend the deeper issues.

Against the furious opposition of Unions NSW and many in the Labor Party, the Iemma Government is proposing to sell the state's power stations and the retailing sides of three distribution businesses.

Iemma and his treasurer have argued that these businesses will need new investment of up to $15 billion over the next 10 to 15 years, which NSW taxpayers can't afford. They suggest that such additional borrowing could jeopardise the state's triple-A credit rating.

They further argue that selling off the electricity businesses would permit the proceeds — say, $10 billion — to be spent on much needed infrastructure such as a new urban public transport system and water and sewerage upgrades.

However, economists lost no time in blowing these arguments out of the water.

The NSW Government has surprisingly low levels of debt, they say. Provided the looming electricity investments are likely to be beneficial, there's no reason the state shouldn't borrow to finance them.

Such borrowing probably wouldn't endanger the state's triple-A credit rating, but if it did, too bad. If the state needs to borrow more than triple-A permits, just move to double-A, which is still safe.

As for the line that the state must sell assets to provide the funds for infrastructure investment, that, they say, is nonsense. Provided these investments offer enough social return, there's no reason we can't just borrow the funds needed.

Well, yes, of course. But it doesn't seem to have occurred to my learned friends that they've been busy demolishing a straw man.

For a start, experience teaches that the arguments politicians advance publicly aren't necessarily those that persuaded them to try to push through an unpopular measure.

It's not easy for Labor governments to advocate privatisation — particularly with Labor increasingly becoming the party of the public-sector employees — so it's hardly surprising to see them falling back on debatable arguments.

Let's turn the question around for once: why shouldn't electricity be privatised? Because it's a natural monopoly?

No. Iemma is not proposing to sell off the one part of the industry that is a natural monopoly: the power transmission and distribution networks.

Since the establishment of the national electricity market in the late 1990s, we have had a competitive market for the generation of electricity and its retail marketing.

Next question: what is the appropriate role of government? I'd say it's to do all those things the market can't do well because of various market failures.

Governments shouldn't be doing those things the private sector can do just as well, if not better.

Since the advent of the national electricity market, there is no longer any good reason for a government to stay in generation and retailing. It should focus its (clearly limited) attention on doing well those things that only it can do.

Some of the arguments we've been hearing against privatisation betray no clear thinking about what governments should or shouldn't do. Some argue that the NSW Government should retain its investment in the industry because it is highly profitable, or because the asset it sells today will be worth more in 10 years' time, or because the Government should be seeking to maximise its net worth.

Really, why? Why should governments be in the business of making profits and getting bigger for the sake of it? And, if so, why doesn't Iemma buy BHP Billiton while he's at it?

Actually, these arguments are just attempts to rationalise a case no one is prepared to put, but which punters and Laborites find highly appealing: preservation of the status quo. Once the Government has started doing something, it must never stop doing it.

There's no logic to that. In theory, it's a recipe for infinite growth in the public sector; in practice, it would mean neglect and inadequate funding for many of the things governments should be doing.

Finally, no one wants to say it but the strongest reason for privatising electricity is so the electricity unions can't use political pressure on Labor ministers to get at their employers.

Why do you think the NSW unions are fighting so furiously to block privatisation? Because they're desperately afraid they'll lose their soft cop.

 

From: http://business.theage.com.au/little-glory-in-the-struggle-over-nsw-power/20080316-1zs1.html.

21st February, 2008

I want to give your organisation top marks for the work that has been put in by Melissa.

I see sloppy, non passionate and non caring sales people every day unfortunately and to witness the enthusiasm that Melissa has for her role is simply a wonderful breath of fresh air. 

Her attention to detail, eagerness and above all her professionalism is just terrific and lines up with our own doctrine at Club Partners.  Thank you again for your companies fantastic work and above all, thank you again for assigning Melissa to our group.

This lady is a real find and a total asset to your company. With her expertise and your companies solid performance we look forward to a long and rewarding association between our two groups.

Best wishes always.

Jeff Truscott

Club Partners

13th February, 2008

Minister for Mines and Energy
The Honourable Geoff Wilson
12/02/2008

Water restrictions eased for power stations

Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said today that this summer may well be remembered as the summer when a hint of the wet season of old, returned to Queensland.

Minister Wilson said that even though the rain had brought mixed blessings, the dams had soaked it up.

"As a result, the Queensland Water Commission has decided to the ease water restrictions on Tarong North and Swanbank power stations," Mr Wilson said.

"Tarong power station, the state's biggest generator, now has plenty of water from the purpose-built Boondooma Dam, which is now around 50% capacity.

"Power stations rely on water to generate electricity as much as we rely on electricity to get on with our daily lives," he said.

The Minister said the unprecedented drought had pushed the price of electricity up, not just in Queensland, but in all of eastern Australia.

"And that's one of the reasons why the Queensland Competition Authority ruled early last year that the price cap on electricity should rise - to reflect the increase in the cost of supply," he said.

"Last week, the Queensland Competition Authority announced a draft decision to increase the price cap by 7% from 1 July.

"Even though it's less than the previous year, I'm concerned they may not have fully taken on board all the rain that fell across Queensland and other eastern states in recent weeks.

"I'm disappointed in the figure announced by the independent economic regulator and I've directed my Department to closely scrutinise it to make sure it reflects only genuine increases in the cost of supplying electricity.

"Two things have been happening at the one time in the electricity industry in Queensland.

17th January, 2008

A spokesman for Mr Madden said sustainability and water conservation issues would "undoubtedly be on the agenda" at the meeting in May. "The Victorian Government will be a keen contributor to this debate in regard to both domestic and commercial buildings," he said.

Master Builders Association of Victoria spokesman Brian Welch said people should not focus solely on water tanks, as savings could be achieved through a range of features including waterless urinals and better recycling of water used to test fire sprinklers. "Tanks make sense in some circumstance and not in others," he said.

Experts say many commercial properties, particularly city skyscrapers, have relatively small roof areas to capture water, so drought-tolerant landscaping, black-water recycling and a shift from water to air cooling could be more effective than tanks.

Mr Welch said "reasonable" water conservation measures could be accepted as long as they did not significantly increase costs, suggesting that financial incentives were the best way to get industry on board.

"If you really want to make a difference, get serious about the amount of rebates and incentives and these things will happen a lot better and a lot faster," he said.

 

Sourced: www.theage.com.au

15th January, 2008

Market Outcomes: From DI 14:05 to DI 17:30 hrs the SA regional reference price was $9,999.72/MWh. Dispatch prices for the Snowy and Victorian regions spiked to $8,176 and $7600.76 at DI 15:55 hrs. The Cumulative Price for the South Australian region stands at $137,500 after this event. Counter-price flows occurred on both the Snowy-Vic and Snowy-NSW directional interconnectors during this period.

Principal Contributors: 30-minute total demand in the South Australian region reached 2,919 MW, driven by temperatures in Adelaide of up to 41 degrees. The Victorian demand 30-minute total demand was 9,266MW with a Melbourne temperature of 40 degrees. Torrens Island power station offered 890MW of its 1160MW capacity at more than $9,900/MWh. The counter-price flows stemmed from a binding system normal transmission constraint between Tumut and Murray in the Snowy region. NEMMCO did not intervene to clamp interconnector flows as the Snowy CSP/CSC arrangements operate to cancel material negative settlement residues that would otherwise accrue.

Market Performance: Outcomes appear to be consistent with the dispatch offers and power system conditions during the event period. The occurrence of counter-price flow simultaneously on both sides of the Snowy region is unusual. It can be understood in terms of nodal pricing in conjunction with loop flows and will be irrelevant when the Snowy region is abolished on 1 July.

Source: www.nemmco.com.au

12th January, 2008

In a quest for answers I decided to direct my queries relating to the recent SA ‘market event' to NEMMCO.

Specifically the questions put to NEMMCO were:

Could you please help explain what factors induced the market to shift from settling at $400 at 2.00pm to settle at $9999.72 at 2.05pm when the demand within that interval only rose by approx 20MW?

Also, why was the price settling 28 cents shy of the $10,000 cap?

Stay tuned for NEMMCO's reply (hopefully).

Simon.

11th January, 2008

Yesterday, the 10th January 2008, a ‘market event' occurred in South Australia that led to NEMMCO reporting that the Electricity Spot Price had settled at a value of $9,999.72 for 42 consecutive 5 min settlement periods, thus equating to the market trading just shy of VOLL for 3 ½ hours.

This ‘market event' raised a few questions within the operations department here at EnergyAction, the primary one being why did the market shift from settling at $400 at 2.00pm to settle at $9999.72 at 2.05pm? And secondly why did it stop 28 cents shy of the $10,000 cap?

Watch this space as I search for answers.

Simon.

 

11th January, 2008

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) says power generators and suppliers are facing more threats to operations from volatile weather events associated with climate change.

Chairman Steve Edwell says the regulator will ensure technical rules are followed in order to safely secure services.

"We've got droughts, we've got floods, we've got bushfires, we've got today very high temperatures in the south-east corner," he said.

"All of these weather patterns can impact on the electricity system and we want to make sure that whilst we can't build a system which is totally foolproof against these sorts of events, that we minimise any outages and contain them."

Mr Edwell says the regulator is conducting an audit to ensure that the priority of power company operations is to minimise outages, or major electricity cuts.

Mr Edwell says the AER will use its powers to enforce compliance.

"What we're signalling to the sector here is that it's a very important priority for us in our monitoring role," he said.

"Senior management and boards of commercial businesses out there, they need to ensure they've got a culture of compliance to ensure that system security is at the top of their goals."

 

Source: ABC News (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/10/2135963.htm)

10th January, 2008

Welcome to Simon says!

 From today, 10th January 2008, our auction manager SImon will be providing useful insights into the progress of the retail energy markets. Simon is armed and ready to impart his pearls of wisdom on the brows of a generation of budding energy market participants such as you.

If you have a question for Simon, or some content you want him to consider, please call 02 9891 6911 to discuss.

Stay tuned to catch the latest from Simon says! 

 

9th January, 2008

From Europe, Oslo (6 December 2007)

The meeting of EU emissions reduction targets hangs largely on meeting ambitious energy efficiency and renewable generation targets. Success in reaching the efficiency and renewable energy goals set out by the EU are crucial to achieving significant reductions in emissions from the power sector. If both are met, then power sector emissions in the EC could be more than 40% lower than 1990 levels – and this could keep EUA prices at around current levels during the period. Point Carbon Director, Trevor Sikorski, argues that “failure to meet the efficiency target will require significant additional investment in renewable energy to make up any shortfall. Given that the cost differentials between energy efficiency solutions, which have low “all-in” costs given the positive cash savings against energy costs, and renewable energy solutions are so large, this has significant implications for the costs of internally meeting any EC emission reduction targets.” Missing both the energy efficiency target and the renewable target will make meeting emissions goals more difficult – with scenario results pointing to somewhere between a 15% increase and an 18% decrease on 1990 emissions levels. Given the difficulty in ensuring energy efficiency targets are reached – due to the policy levers that are likely to be used – and the difficulty a number of Member States are having meeting renewables targets, achieving significant emissions reductions from the power sector will be difficult. Trevor Sikorski suggests that: “the EU, in order to meet its emission reductions targets, will need to either rely on imported offset credits issued through the CDM and JI, policies in the non-traded sectors, with particular emphasis on limiting emissions from the road transport sector, or, in the event of binding limits on emissions reduction offset credits, extremely high CO₂ prices”

Source: Point Carbon

 

20th December, 2007

EnergyAction would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers and all of our suppliers for their support and custom this year. It has been an exciting year for us, and we look forward to working with you all in 2008.

We wish you all a happy Xmas and a peaceful and safe holiday season.

 

The EnergyAction team.  

 

19th December, 2007

Effective 1 January 2008, the Victorian Government will remove the regulated prices for small business gas and electricity customers.

Since 2002, the State Government has negotiated a structure of standard prices with retailers. This was a precaution for small business customers concerned that market competition would disadvantage them. This situation no longer applies.

From 1 January 2008, small business customers in Victoria who choose to do nothing will automatically default to their host retailers’ default pricing – otherwise known as their  “published” rates.

For small business customers in Victoria already on a contract for electricity supply, their contracts will continue. However, the discount will now be based on the published rates for their particular host retailer, rather than the Maximum Uniform Tariff which previously underpinned their contract.

 

18th December, 2007

INTERNET firm Dodo is working to become Australia's first company to let consumers pay for their energy, telephony and internet services on a single bill.

The ISP has quietly established a new company, Dodo Power & Gas. Dodo managing director Larry Kestelman could not say when the ISP would begin the service but said the company was working to get it up and running as quickly as possible.

"As far as a launch date I don't have one yet. We're certainly working frantically to get all the systems for it working," Mr Kestelman said.

He said that the service was most likely to be offered in Dodo's home state, Victoria, first. The company also planned services in other states where electricity markets have been deregulated - South Australia, NSW, the ACT and Queensland.

He said Dodo's service would be aimed at time-poor consumers seeking electricity, gas, telephony and internet services under a one-stop-shop arrangement.

"I think we're all pretty time poor. We all want a single bill from one provider," he said.

"We're constantly liaising with all the government bodies to put all the compliance mechanisms in place," Mr Kestelman said. "You go to a generator to buy electricity and go from there."

Dodo said it was attempting to establish wholesale energy supply agreements, but declined to reveal which providers it was negotiating with. 

Source: The Australian Newspaper, Andrew Colley | December 18, 2007

 

7th December, 2007

The European Commission this week called for yet another scheme to promote energy liberalisation after opposition by France and Germany blocked two earlier proposals. In September the European Union's energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, offered two paths to a single European energy market. Integrated power companies could either unbundle their gas pipelines or electricity grids into separate companies, or keep them but run them at arm's length.

 

The idea was to open the European market by making it easier for small energy companies to buy and sell power across Europe, with the hope this would lower prices. Independent network companies would be more likely to upgrade facilities by, for instance, improving cross-border links.

 The big energy groups, such as E.ON and RWE in Germany and EDF and GDF in France, argue that big, integrated companies are needed—to bargain with Russian and Algerian gas suppliers, for example. The commission wants opponents to table a third option to promote liberalisation, in a bid to win majority support for liberalisation. The Franco-German opposition bloc includes seven smaller member states such as Austria and Latvia. The liberalisers, led by Britain and the Netherlands, comprise eight members; ten states are undecided.  

While all this wrangling goes on in Brussels, the industry is changing shape. Suez, a Franco-Belgian energy group, is merging with France's GDF (the union is due to be blessed by shareholders next year). Other tentacles are also being extended across borders. Enel, Italy's biggest power company, was one of the winners in the epic fight for Endesa, Spain's energy giant, earlier this year. Now Enel is taking a 12.5% stake in a new nuclear power-station being built in France by EDF, the state-owned energy giant, as a way of getting a toehold in the French market. Under an agreement ratified at a Franco-Italian summit on November 30th, Enel also has options to take stakes in future EDF power stations, both gas-fired and nuclear. In return, EDF will be able to participate in some of Enel's projects. So a new cross-border power group is quietly shaping up.

 

This week the French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, indicated that she would consider selling further shares in EDF, after the sale of 2.5% on Monday. The government now owns just under 85% of EDF and can reduce its stake to 70% without further legislation. But it is still pulling the strings. Much as the commission wants to unbundle generation and distribution, the opponents of liberalisation have a very different view of how the industry should look.

 Source: The Economist/ print edition, Dec 6th 2007 | PARIS

18th July, 2007

The drought is still being seen as the biggest factor behind recent increases in electricity prices. More clearly though, it is the lack of available water for production of electricity that is causing the issue. 'But what about all the recent rain' we hear our customers cry!  Let's look at this more closely.  Macquarie Generation (NSW Government owned)Via the Bayswater & Liddell power stations located in the upper Hunter, these two generators produce 40% of NSW's electricity. More than half of the water allocation to run the plants is held in Glenbawn Dam, the other half intended to come from periodic opportunities to pump during high flow events in the Hunter River, which occur downstream of Glenbawn Dam. Recent rainfall in the Hunter Region and high flows in the Hunter River has resulted in some inflows into the region's dams and Macquarie Generation's water storages. However despite the rainfall, the Upper Hunter Region remains drought declared and without further rain and subsequent high flow events, Macquarie Generation's electricity output may be affected from mid 2009. Delta Electricity (NSW & VIC Government owned)

• Wallerawang & Mount Piper. Restrictions have been placed on water usage from the Cox's river which is the main supply to these power plants. It has been suggested the available water supply to these stations is currently sitting at 19%.
• Vales Point & Munmorah. Munmorah draws both salt & fresh water whereas Vales Point draws from Lake Macquarie.

Snowy-hydro (NSW Government owned)Because of the continuing extremely low water inflows, water levels in Snowy Scheme storages have steadily decreased since 1997 and are currently at their lowest level since construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. While water inflows over the months of May and June 2007 were a slight improvement on the previous 12 months, which were at about 25% of long term average, they were not sufficient to make a significant impact on water storage levels. Unfortunately, recent heavy rainfalls experienced in other areas of the country have not occurred in the region and catchment area.

 In Summary....

Of course there are other generators around such as numerous gas-fired peaking plants but overall, despite recent rain, it is not going where it is needed to impact on stores for the generation of electricity. This above, combined with the recent cold weather, general supply v’s demand, the move towards renewable energy sources and reduced generational capacity in both Queensland & Victoria all have impacted on electricity prices. The above is by no means the definitive guide to the reasons behind increased electricity costs but hopefully sheds some light on your pricing when you look at your next energy bill.

18th July, 2007

A comment from a recent EnergyAction auction customer:

"I have the highest regard for Ben with respect to his customer service, his professionalism, knowledge of the industry,clear and concise information and advice.

The service and advice offered by Energy Action was excellent in all respects".