The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) said yesterday electricity prices in New South Wales would still increase, even with the delay of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS); part of the Governments Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
From July this year in New South Wales, a typical residential EnergyAustralia customer will pay a further $126 per annum, a typical Integral Energy residential customer will pay an extra $85 per annum and a Country Energy residential customer will pay $183 more per annum.
The increases are less than what they would have been under the ETS and solar powered households are further buffered through their rooftop power generation plus the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme, a feed in tariff program that pays system owners 60 cents per kilowatt hour for all electricity produced.
IPART says the increases will allow network service providers to increase investment in infrastructure to improve network security and reliability of supply.
ETS delay related changes to imminent scheduled price rises in other states are not known at this point in time.
According to an article on The Australian, a delay in the ETS won’t alter the fact that peak demand is growing faster than baseload demand, largely driven by increased purchases of air conditioners – and that growing demand requires increasing investment in the nation’s ageing electricity infrastructure.
The shelving of the Emissions Trading Scheme will also reportedly have an impact in investment in new power stations. Another article on The Australian states up to $2 billion of investment in new power stations will be put on hold as a result the delay, as major power generators are unable to secure financing of projects because of uncertainty about climate related legislation and the future price of carbon.
