News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[rhino]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Instead, prices went up and consistency of service went down.

After years of this, the Labor government of the day agreed with the South Australian people that we'd had enough, and got the ball rolling towards SA owning at least a portion of it's own power generation, to keep the power on in time of high demand, which is when it typically failed.

The Liberals get back in, and sell the newly acquired back-up generation capabilities, telling us it will result in lower prices and better service ....FFS!

[SBD]

Alinta has planning approval for some gas turbines at Reeves Plains, but hasn't progressed towards actually building that power station as they have no contracted customers. The Government (Labor) plan was to move these turbines to a place it had not identified yet and convert them to gas. The Government (Liberal) wants to sell them to someone, and offer a contract to draw on them at times of high demand - seems like a good match to me.

The statement on this morning's radio that the purchaser will be able to bid into the market as well as provide the emergency boost seems nonsensical to me though - if they are just more market assets, then "the market" will balance supply and demand so the extra generation will be already factored in. I guess it might have been factored in to the peak demand anyway, as they were going to cut off that price peak.

[PD2/20]

Alinta has planning approval for some gas turbines at Reeves Plains, but hasn't progressed towards actually building that power station as they have no contracted customers. The Government (Labor) plan was to move these turbines to a place it had not identified yet and convert them to gas. The Government (Liberal) wants to sell them to someone, and offer a contract to draw on them at times of high demand - seems like a good match to me.

The statement on this morning's radio that the purchaser will be able to bid into the market as well as provide the emergency boost seems nonsensical to me though - if they are just more market assets, then "the market" will balance supply and demand so the extra generation will be already factored in. I guess it might have been factored in to the peak demand anyway, as they were going to cut off that price peak.

It was announced in February 2018 by the then goverment that the emergency generators were to be moved to Bolivar and connected to gas https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/522 ... wer-plant/.

[Jaymz]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Yes they did. They did this to repay some of the debt from the collapse of the State Bank, a bank that was highly successful until the Bannon Govt. outsourced the running of said bank, even though it was still publicly owned...... who then proceeded to run it into the ground and cripple the state financially, which we are still feeling some of the effects right up until now.

[citywatcher]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Yes they did. They did this to repay some of the debt from the collapse of the State Bank, a bank that was highly successful until the Bannon Govt. outsourced the running of said bank, even though it was still publicly owned...... who then proceeded to run it into the ground and cripple the state financially, which we are still feeling some of the effects right up until now.

Sorry this is bs
It's 30 years now
Change the record

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[citywatcher]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Instead, prices went up and consistency of service went down.

After years of this, the Labor government of the day agreed with the South Australian people that we'd had enough, and got the ball rolling towards SA owning at least a portion of it's own power generation, to keep the power on in time of high demand, which is when it typically failed.

The Liberals get back in, and sell the newly acquired back-up generation capabilities, telling us it will result in lower prices and better service ....FFS!

They have no regard for the state or the people just agenda

Sent from my SM-J730G using Tapatalk

[Jaymz]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Instead, prices went up and consistency of service went down.

After years of this, the Labor government of the day agreed with the South Australian people that we'd had enough, and got the ball rolling towards SA owning at least a portion of it's own power generation, to keep the power on in time of high demand, which is when it typically failed.

The Liberals get back in, and sell the newly acquired back-up generation capabilities, telling us it will result in lower prices and better service ....FFS!

They have no regard for the state or the people just agenda

Sent from my SM-J730G using Tapatalk

Yep they have an agenda. An agenda not to p*ss taxpayers money up against a wall and then put the hat out and cry poor to the Feds.

[Waewick]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/ ... 3f/6329316

I've always found that an reasonable enough argument to avoid falling into the privatisation is bad tin hat stuff that gets bandied around.

On the diesel generators, I thought they were being leased under the priviso that when the state needs them, the power comes to us? so doesn't that just mean someone else can use them to make money when they aren't being used rather than the state picking up the tab for leaving them idle?

[Jaymz]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/ ... 3f/6329316

I've always found that an reasonable enough argument to avoid falling into the privatisation is bad tin hat stuff that gets bandied around.

On the diesel generators, I thought they were being leased under the priviso that when the state needs them, the power comes to us? so doesn't that just mean someone else can use them to make money when they aren't being used rather than the state picking up the tab for leaving them idle?

So S.A is fully privatised and Tasmania is fully public, and they rank the top 2 most expensive

[rubberman]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Yes they did. They did this to repay some of the debt from the collapse of the State Bank, a bank that was highly successful until the Bannon Govt. outsourced the running of said bank, even though it was still publicly owned...... who then proceeded to run it into the ground and cripple the state financially, which we are still feeling some of the effects right up until now.

In 2014, the Advertiser reported that electricity privatisation cost an extra $2bn by that time.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/etsa-sal ... 56efb62951

It's now four years of high prices later.

I should imagine the costs of electricity privatisation are now approaching the costs of the State Bank disaster.

However, the costs of electricity privatisation are ongoing. The extra cost to the State will keep growing forever.

And they want to double down on it!

[SBD]

So ... the previous Liberal Government sold our power generation and delivery network to the private sector, telling us it would result in cheaper electricity prices and better service.

Yes they did. They did this to repay some of the debt from the collapse of the State Bank, a bank that was highly successful until the Bannon Govt. outsourced the running of said bank, even though it was still publicly owned...... who then proceeded to run it into the ground and cripple the state financially, which we are still feeling some of the effects right up until now.

In 2014, the Advertiser reported that electricity privatisation cost an extra $2bn by that time.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/etsa-sal ... 56efb62951

It's now four years of high prices later.

I should imagine the costs of electricity privatisation are now approaching the costs of the State Bank disaster.

However, the costs of electricity privatisation are ongoing. The extra cost to the State will keep growing forever.

And they want to double down on it!

One of the best things we got from Labor was the political environment that enabled private investment in many wind farms, and more recently solar farms. Would we have got that if there were large coal and gas generators owned by the government? Would we (the voters) have allowed the government to put up all those windmills on the public purse, or demanded a new coal mine and power station somewhere instead?

[claybro]

It's now four years of high prices later.

I should imagine the costs of electricity privatisation are now approaching the costs of the State Bank disaster.

However, the costs of electricity privatisation are ongoing. The extra cost to the State will keep growing forever.

And they want to double down on it!

Had the state not sold off electricity generation, wouldn't they now be left with equipment worth absolutely nothing?-At least they got a few billion upfront. And how much profit would those old power stations really have made in revenue particularly in the last decade, when fossil fuel plants are penalised for their use of polluting fuel? Wouldn't the state now be faced with paying upfront for all new generation instead of private companies had they not privatised the system back then? So what did the state really loose by privatisation?

[rubberman]

It's now four years of high prices later.

I should imagine the costs of electricity privatisation are now approaching the costs of the State Bank disaster.

However, the costs of electricity privatisation are ongoing. The extra cost to the State will keep growing forever.

And they want to double down on it!

Had the state not sold off electricity generation, wouldn't they now be left with equipment worth absolutely nothing?-At least they got a few billion upfront. And how much profit would those old power stations really have made in revenue particularly in the last decade, when fossil fuel plants are penalised for their use of polluting fuel? Wouldn't the state now be faced with paying upfront for all new generation instead of private companies had they not privatised the system back then? So what did the state really loose by privatisation?

Under COAG agreements in the 1990s, public utilities had to adopt what was called the TER Tax Equivalent Regime. That is, they had to pay taxes and do their business accounts like private enterprise. That included allowance for replacement and profit to the States at commercial rates.

So, no. We would not have been left with useless equipment, and we would have had a revenue stream, and we would have had apprentice training schemes, and we would have kept technical know how in the State, and the Government could have kept a lid on prices.

[Spurdo]

Kinda hypocritical of Labor to talk about the privatisation of ETSA, when the Arnold Labor government was responsible for privatising SAGASCO back in the 90’s

[rubberman]

Kinda hypocritical of Labor to talk about the privatisation of ETSA, when the Arnold Labor government was responsible for privatising SAGASCO back in the 90’s

But SA Gas Company was private for most of its existence.