Dear Shadowminister,

“As for me called Doog a xenophobe, at the time you made the claim, I hadn't so you lied there too. I responded without checking whether you lied.”

My goodness.

Lol. I think we had better leave it there.

Agreed, you've hit rock bottom.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Once you hit rock bottom - there's no place
else to go but up!

Up would be good.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Yes, but you have to want to begin again on
new and solid ground. That is the gift of
rock bottom - are you up to - aiming for it?

Shadow,

I'm aware of how the NEM works. But the electricity companies have so much market power that when electricity is needed they often find it more profitable to refrain from generating more.

Wind power is not to blame for the high spot prices. As I pointed out further up this thread, Queensland, with no wind turbines, has had higher spot prices than SA this month.

Regarding the price impact:
- AIUI the highest figure claimed for the price impact of subsidies for large users was 20%.

- Networks only had to be expanded slightly - the new generation areas tend to be near existing transmission lines. And even with power from fossil fuels, transmission networks have to be designed for 100% capacity when the average output is 30% or less.

- Inefficient old coal fired power stations, which we have been effectively subsidising by not charging them the costs of the pollution they produce, have recently become uneconomic to run. But gas generators generally have good load following ability, and the wholesale electricity market (sand indeed the weather forecast) allows the power companies to plan their output in advance. AFAIK none of them have closed.

And yes, I've seen the international price comparisons. But instead of blindly assuming that more renewables = more expense, I've looked at the real reasons why those countries have higher power costs than those with a lower share from renewables. For example, Germany's main reason for having expensive power is that it's phasing out nuclear power. And many European countries used gross feedin tariffs to promote rooftop solar, even though this was known to be very expensive.

I'd like to see renewables resulting in lower electricity prices, and I believe we've reached the stage where that is technically achievable, particularly with solar thermal. But funding it remains a problem. The best solution is to use concessional loans. As I said in my reply to simplesimon, Australia's interest rates are set too high for SA. Concessional loans for renewable energy (instead of relying on production subsidies) would do much to help revive the SA economy.