Well I did say Chris Bowen and the boys will be in a world of pain shortly, it sounds as though it has arrived, reducing people's electricity bills by $265/year seems a world away. It sounds like the big red panic button is about to be pressed.
The good thing is the rising power costs should reduce usage, therefore emissions.
The federal treasurer says manufacturing will be crippled within years by soaring energy prices as he lays out justifications for market intervention.
From the article:
Australia’s manufacturing sector will be crippled by soaring energy prices within two years unless the government acts to bring down costs, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says as he prepares to announce what would be an unprecedented market intervention.
Chalmers told manufacturing and business leaders on Monday he was preparing to announce “temporary, meaningful, sensible” regulations to ease the crisis.
An international energy crunch is driving international demand, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the federal Treasury forecast that gas prices would rise a further 20 per cent next year, and electricity prices 30 per cent.
The Albanese government is under pressure to relieve the pressure of energy costs on households and industry, following its election promise to revitalise manufacturing and cut power bills by $275 by 2025.
Chalmers all but ruled out imposing new taxes on industry, which could be used to generate revenue to pay for household and business energy subsidies. Chalmers has warned such subsidies could drive inflation and on Monday said he hoped to bring in new regulations as “urgently as we can”.
He said he would consult widely before it announces “something as meaningful and potentially consequential as what we’re contemplating”.
The Albanese government has formed a working group to nut out a solution, comprising Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Industry Minister Ed Husic.