If you’re sick of the rising cost of energy, savings of nearly $100 a year could be around the corner.
The Finkel review released on Friday suggested Aussies could save up to $1000 on their electricity bills over a decade to 2030 under the Clean Energy Target (CET) proposed in the document.
The review of the electricity sector by Dr Alan Finkel said a CET would provide lower residential and industrial electricity prices and argued that Australia had a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to reshape the national electricity market.
This included utilising technological changes, improving the security and reliability of the system, rewarding consumers, large and small, who reduce electricity demand and meet a 26-28 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030.
The report focused on four key outcomes:
One of the key recommendations of the review was a call for a new CET — its promise of lower power prices for Australian households will be critical in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg convincing conservative MPs that the CET is the policy to adopt.
Australia’s chief scientist Finkel stands behind his review saying that consumers will pay less for power and still get a world-class electricity system if the nation adopts a CET.
The Finkel report found a CET based on an emissions reduction target of 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 would result in lower prices than an emissions intensity scheme (EIS) favoured by Labor leader Bill Shorten.
Federal Labor has suggested it is open to backing a CET, possibly bringing an end to a decade of political squabbling over clean energy and carbon emissions in Australia.
If the Finkel review’s new CET suggestion is adopted, 42 per cent of Australia’s electricity by 2030 would come from renewable energy.
Unlike a carbon tax, a CET would allow clean coal and gas to remain part of the mix. Under the model, the CET would replace the renewable energy target by 2020 with zero emissions reached by 2070.
Under the scenarios examined, both a CET and EIS would deliver cheaper power prices for households and consumers, all the way through to 2050.
However, a CET would deliver slightly cheaper prices than EIS.
The report noted: “In the long-term, the CET scenario saw more electricity produced by brown coal than the EIS scenario because there is no penalty for high emissions generators. However, marginally more renewable capacity was built in the CET policy scenario that led to slightly higher overall resource costs over the modelling period.
“Under both the CET and EIS scenarios, the renewable generation mix in 2030 was 42 per cent of the generation sent out.”
The Renewable Energy Target should be abolished after 2020 and replaced by the CET, the review said.