I refer to the response to my letter (Consumers better off with renewables in CCN 417) by Charles Hemmings of Woy Woy (Someone has to pay for renewables – CCN 419).
I can only conclude that Mr Hemmings’ comments referring to taxpayers bearing the cost of transitioning to renewable energy is based on a lack of understanding of how the energy sector has evolved.
The facts are, particularly in NSW, Energy Australia (formerly named Sydney Electricity) and Integral Energy (formerly named Prospect Electricity) were fully owned by the NSW State Government (funded by taxpayers) yet they were tax-free enterprises.
COAG (Council of Australian Governments) deregulated the industry in 1998.
An objective of deregulation was to increase competition by removing the geographic franchise boundaries and encourage new entrants to enter the Australian market.
In 2011 the incumbent State Government sold Energy Australia to Melbourne based TRU Energy.
The proceeds went towards building the tunnel from the southern end of the MI to western Sydney.
TRU Energy is a fully owned company of China Light & Power (CLP) based in Hong Kong.
Similarly, Endeavour Energy (formerly known as Integral Energy and prior to that as Prospect Electricity) was fully owned by the NSW State Government.
In June 2017, an Australian-led consortium of institutional investors acquired 50.4 per cent ownership of the rights to manage Endeavour Energy’s network assets under a 99-year lease.
So, Mr Hemmings, all this restructuring, including the cost of consultants, was paid for by taxpayers.
Now, as the transition to renewable energy is accelerating, it is increasingly being driven by private enterprises including Energy Australia, Endeavour Energy and AGL and many more privately owned companies.
So, Mr Hemmings, it is difficult to understand why you scare people into believing the transition to renewable energy is an impost on taxpayers.
Email, Dec 15
Dennis Silvers, formerly of Narara