The Forum > Article Comments > Fattening up the power industry > Comments
Fattening up the power industry : Comments
By Mark Byrne, published 9/1/2008Consumers have reason to be concerned about the security of power supply and service standards in a privatised industry.
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Here Mr Iemma wants to ditch responsibility by leasing all his assets and then flick-passing the hard decisions about replacement of ageing generators to the private sector who will be guided by the market.
Soon there will be mandatory changes to the coal industry in which market signals will be added to discourage building coal-fired power stations. Mr Iemma hopes to avoid these troubling issues by letting the market decide what’s best.
Unfortunately the market has already failed. That is why we continue to use coal, only since it is the cheapest source of power. The market hasn't priced-in the destruction of the planet.
Mr Iemma hired a worthy economist to say “yes we need a coal fired station because other forms of power are too expensive at present”. And "yes the private sector should be allowed to run them because the private sector should be running any government agency that delivers revenue”.
No mention of the fact that NSW now has a highly efficient world-class electricity system delivered by the public sector.
Mr Owen also claimed there would be an effect on the AAA Credit rating if NSW spends an (inflated) $15 billion on generation capacity. This is despite the fact that (as Mark Byrne has said) the credit rating should be improved by responsible investment in revenue-generating long-term energy infrastructure.
The Iemma strategy is so bad for the planet that Mr Iemma must have a plan to go ahead with the coal fired power station against all opposition in the hopes that a Rudd Government will move in and buy him out.
We need actual achievements in the fight against climate change, not Machiaevelian manoeuvres. Mr Iemma should now declare that there will be no coal fired power stations in the options considered by the NSW Government, just as he already said “no” to the nuclear power options. In the climate change future, sound logic must trump dodgy economics.