According to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa):

"(Electrity) network firms had extracted about $11.1bn since 2014, including $2bn in the 2022 fiscal year alone. That sum was in addition to permitted “normal” profits of $16bn over those years.

The ability of monopoly network providers such as Endeavour Energy in NSW, Queensland’s Ergon and Victoria’s Citipower to continue to extract such bumper profits reflected poor governance by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).

Network profit gains will counter at least some of the recent falls in wholesale electricity prices, meaning consumer power bills are unlikely to shrink much in the near term."

Monopolies and higher costs to consumers as a result of privatising once state owned resources at the same time as wholesale prices are falling - we were warned about this but we chose to ignore all the evidence from overseas that this would be the result.

There are things that can be done to correct the problems
involved. The following link explains:

http://www.ieefa.org/resources/power-prices-can-be-made-fairer-and-more-affordable#:

Power is certain to become far more expensive and unreliable if governments pursue a heavily taxpayer subsidised renewable energy fantasy. Clive Palmer is guessing this scenario and sees opportunity for coal fired power. He might have tried to build a nuclear power station were it legal. Who knows?

Hi Fester,

Palmer is a dinosaur who rips off his workers. He can't be trusted!

Fester,

The electricity supplied through the grid comes from many sources.

The wholesale price of electricity has been falling at the same time as retail prices have been increasing regardless of the source of the electricity.

Hi Paul,

Agree. What interested me was that he wanted to build a coal fired power plant when such projects are claimed to be un-viable.

Hi WTF,

What strikes me about the government's pursuit of renewable energy is the lack of transparency about cost and subsidies. The CSIRO study released last year mentioned things like pumped hydro (probably not viable in WA, but the recent report on the why is secret), and only allowed for four hours of generation backup. At least it had the sense to include gas turbine generation. I fear that if Australia pursues the renewable energy fantasy much longer we will face economic collapse as Sri Lanka did with its pursuit of organic food production.

https://www.energy.gov.au/news-media/news/renewables-confirmed-cheapest-source-electricity