Bloggers

Power game – Foul play

Feb 26, 2017

It is a fundamental right in our country, a first world country and one of the best countries to live in, to expect a continuous supply of electricity. It runs parallel in importance to health and education; Why in 2017 are we having 1960 problems. Governments have had almost two centuries to get this right, but we appear no nearer now than we were decades ago. Governments have quietly run their luck, but now the problem is coming back to haunt.

We are losing supply of electricity because the Government is hell bent on reducing gas emissions into the atmosphere to satisfy the greenies and environmentalist minorities of this country. Doing so the Government has created a critical situation that will continue to get worse without any positive intervention.

The State of Victoria will, as a result, become an importer of electricity instead of an exporter. Why did the Government see fit to pull the plug on electricity production before viable alternative methods of production were built or put in place? No alternative has been advanced, no new production plants are planned, and major political parties have no viable policy for the introduction of new continuous electricity production. In other words, we can expect the power supply to get worse across our Country.

Hazelwood Power Station that produces 4-5% of Australia’s power production and over 25 per cent of Victoria’s will close. Owned by a French Company ENGIE who state it is no longer viable. ENGIE have not been allowed to plug into the vast gas reserves we have and are left no other methods to make the plant work. ENGIE have stated their intention to reclaim the area and leave a lake for people to enjoy, except there will be no people.

The State Government has shut the door on the use of coal purely because of its need to satisfy minority groups of environmentalist’s who wish nothing more than to bring this Country to its knees not caring about the hardship that will result. The State Government has given no thought for the thousands of people losing their jobs, their homes, their community. They are quite happy to create ghost towns where once a great town thrived; they offer nothing but lip service pointing communities to the social services available to help, which will not provide a long-term solution.

There are no jobs; there is no work. Thousands of workers will not work again, thousand of young people will see no future. Families will become dysfunctional all because the State Government wants to be seen to be reducing gas emissions by 40 per cent. Surely people come first; families come first, communities come first. Notwithstanding that, by closing the plant, the State Government has completely stuffed the production of electricity for the foreseeable future.

The State Government should have built alternative power plants prior to closing off current supply. This is common sense. What State Government in their right mind, knowing electricity production is required, would close the main source of the production without having an alternative. This is crazy. Building infrastructure for the future is fundamental and would ensure employment and protect our power supply.

We all expect to flick a switch and the power come’s on, nothing less. We pay an inflated price for power, in addition, we pay ridiculous daily fees for the supply of that power. The cost of Electricity to the consumer has increased beyond all reason without a satisfactory explanation. It is the only industry or business where if you use more you pay a higher price for the product, what a ridiculous concept.

We are at the mercy of not only the suppliers but the ‘on sellers’ with whom we have to deal. There is no good, strong regulation for pricing and increases are at an unacceptable frequency well above CPI. The State Government allows this to go on and accept no responsibility for any problems; they have wiped their collective hands of the serious problems within the community. Families pensioners and the unfortunate are now in a position that they can no longer afford normal power usage to the degree that it is affecting normal life.

Offshore call centres constantly bombard consumers wanting to sell reduced power costs, wanting to compare accounts. There are so many ‘on sellers’ which is an indication of the profits to be made by these Companies in the industry of ‘on selling’ power. Production of power and it’s distribution to the end user should be in the hands of the people and owned by the people and not run by purely profit motivative Companies. State Government should regain control and revamp consumer confidence by providing power at an affordable price that is not purely profit based and any money made ploughed back into the system for the benefit of the people. All profit-seeking Companies should be removed from the system. It will take a strong Government to do so, but then that’s why they are there to make the hard decisions for the benefit of the community. Frankly, the current system is fatally flawed requiring a complete overhaul, not just a band-aid.

The system has been allowed by Government after Governments to fester in the too hard basket until we now have a system that is too costly for the end user and has failed to keep up with fundamental infrastructure desperately needed. A complete and utter mess that needs to be brought back online as soon a possible.

We are a Country blessed with powerful seas surrounding our coastline, constant and dependable winds and sunshine the envy of the world. Governments have failed to utilise these resources that are basically free. Governments have absolved themselves of the problems by selling off resources to profit based Companies who see customer’s as drones, a policy that has come back to bite them and it will continue to do so until they bite the bullet take back the resources and spend big on future infrastructure.

We are to lose Hazelwood Power Station, that is clear, but total short-sightedness by the State Government will also result in the closure of Alcoa at Portland. Once again thousands of people will be affected, jobs lost, homes vacated, mortgage defaults and all that goes with such decisions. People, families and communities mean nothing to this State Government they are happy to ruin the lives of thousands to appease greenies and environmentalist’s and their own ideology.

Currently any question about the amount of emissions that are sent into the atmosphere should be placed fairly and squarely on the back burner until Governments, both State and Federal, collectively get their heads together and accept the mess we are in and develop, with some degree of urgency, a plan to secure our future power requirements. People, families, pensioners and the less fortunate must come before minority organisations full of misguided ideology and before profit by greedy Companies only too glad to get on the bandwagon.

Quite simply the answer is to build more infrastructure using the natural resources that we have. The government should bite the bullet, put away their egos and ideologies and invest our money in meaningful infrastructure. Never forget, it is our money and Government is the custodian charged with the responsibility of spending wisely for the people.