I dislike having to do it, but in the face of poor governance I feel a need to respond. The italics and colour change doesnt past to Facebook, but you get the idea... Dear Ben Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately it reflects poorly on the regressive Newman government as it continues the miss-information that I and many others are tired of hearing. I feel the need to continue this dialogue, to at least give you pause when you consider sending this rubbish further afield. I have broken down my answers as per your one line/phrase response to point out the ridiculousness of your argument. My previous offer, to come and discuss your figures and give you some feedback on where real savings could be found, is still open. Lets take a look at your response, with my notes attached. Dear Mr Bryan Crawford Correct! Good start! Thank you for your email regarding changes to the 8 cent solar bonus scheme. Continuing the good start! The Newman Government is making these changes so that it will make it fairer for all Queensland customers, while also putting downward pressure on electricity prices. Oh that sounds interesting...but are you addressing the root cause of elevated electricity prices? If I was looking to make savings, I wouldnt start with the Solar FIT, that has the smallest impact on the bottom line out of all the factors creating upward pressure on electricity prices, even with your over inflated figures for its impact. I would start by taking a look at the network costs, which make up the lions share (around 50 percent) of the impact on electricity prices, and which, if you accounted for it properly you may notice solar instals are actually having a mitigating factor, by reducing the need to expand the network, particularly at the shoulder to and during some of the peak times. I have seen graphs which explain this clearly and succinctly. Happy to look at the pie chart you are basing your magic thinking on. Here is an article that breaks it down for you: brisbanetimes.au/queensland/power-price-rise-where-the-money-will-go-20130531-2nh56.html As the Government indicated back in 2012 when we closed Labors poorly planned, $3.3 billion 44 cent solar bonus scheme to new applicants, the transitional 8 cent solar bonus scheme will end on 1 July 2014. Well you cant help the fact that your government has no long term vision, particularly in the light of the overwhelming evidence which states we should be transitioning to a low carbon economy, especially in relation to electricity generation, which makes up a significant chunk of Australias carbon emissions...but do continue... These changes mean that Queensland electricity customers will no longer have to pay higher electricity bills to cover the costs of the 8 cent solar bonus scheme and instead retailers can pay solar customers directly for the amount of electricity they export to the grid. No they wont, as explained above regarding your magic thinking, the solar part is the smallest part of the puzzle of cost. Changing the structural on charging, which is mostly based around building a massive network to allow us all to have air -conditioners, would have a massive impact on prices. Perhaps you should look at that and account for the fact, that solar, can help mitigate the costs by reducing the peak load, by providing localised generation for part if not all of the load of an air-conditioner...but then I dont want to make the calculation too difficult for you. If we did not make these changes, the 8 cent solar bonus scheme would cost about $110 million by 2020, putting further pressure on electricity prices. That is a figure, thank you for sharing. Now if you would like to share that figure in comparison for the overall spend on the network, I suspect it would be significant in the way a rounding error or a full stop is to a full page document. Reductionist thinking is old news. Look at the big picture. Thanks again for sharing a figure though. I like pie charts, see above. Given the very limited competition outside the south east corner of Queensland, the Newman Government is making sure Ergon Energy customers will receive a regulated feed in tariff paid by Ergon retail. This guarantees a solar feed in tariff for solar customers in the Ergon area. Great, I feel better for those people already. Now why dont you do that for all the valuable, structural-cost-reducing-solar people in the cities again? Retailers already offer competitive feed-in tariff rates in south-east Queensland and this competitive market means there is no need for the Government to regulate a rate for those in South East Queensland. Oh that is right, you dont give a stuff and you are looking to sell energex, so you dont want the burden, even though Energex paid a dividend close to a billion dollars to the Qld government in the last financial year. I am starting to think about that rounding error figure of $110 million again. When I look at it compared to that dividend...it looks, well, embarrassingly small. The kind of small you should just get on with and stop all the huff an puff about... Solar customers in the Energex area already have the benefit of a very competitive market with retailers offering feed in tariff rates of up to 10 cents. And as part of these reforms, retailers will need to provide solar customers with better information about feed in tariffs so that you can make informed choices to benefit from this strong competition. That is so great. Pity in this instance, for the value solar is contributing to those reduced network costs, there are estimates it should be 75% of retail, which is closer to 20c, but go ahead, dont lead our state in a positive direction, because of your warped ideological stance, or friendship with the coal industry. I should also note that as the Newman Government has already stated, the 44 cent solar bonus scheme will remain unchanged. Whew...that makes me feel...well actually I dont care what you do with that one, as, like the 8c, it has such a minimal impact on the overall spend, that it is irrelevant. Bring out the magic pie chart though, it may make you feel happier. While this is a tough decision, it provides certainty for regional and rural solar customers and puts downward pressure on electricity prices for all Queenslanders. Your reasoning that your changes to the 8 cent solar bonus scheme will put downward pressure on electricity prices misses the bigger picture and without considering infrastructure of the larger electricity network and peak load issues, you have no hope of reducing electricity prices by taking away solar incentives! Sadly, I can only shake my head at the lack of tough decisions, foresight, and broader thinking on real issues your government is engaged in. As a citizen of Australia, and in particular a member of the state of Queensland, I demand more informed and better quality governance of the Newman government. Kind regards Bryan Crawford A concerned citizen
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:06:10 +0000
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