2018-09-26
In a speech to the National Press Club the Leader of the Australian Greens, Dr Richard Di Natale, will today announce a plan to establish a national publicly owned electricity retailer, Power Australia, to increase competition in the National Electricity Market, drive down prices and support the transition to clean energy.
Quotes attributable to Dr Richard Di Natale, Leader of the Australian Greens:
"The time has come for publicly-owned institutions to play a much bigger role in the provision of essential services. We need to put people before profit, and our plan to re-establish a state-owned electricity retailer called Power Australia is going to do exactly that.
"You don’t need to be an expert to see that big private companies, whose legal requirement is to maximise their own profits, should not also be handed the responsibility of looking after our health, our education, or even our ability to turn the lights on.
"Quite simply, corporate interests should not be in charge of essential public services."
“A public retailer, along with community-owned players, would provide the competition needed to end price gouging and super profits, while pushing down prices. And it would kick-start the next wave of renewable energy projects, that the public desperately wants to see built.
Quotes attributable to Adam Bandt MP, Climate and Energy Spokesperson:
“It’s time to bring power back into public hands.”
“To end the failed experiment of privatisation, the Greens are building on our policy of re-regulating retail prices, a paler version of which has since been adopted by both parties. Instead of continually hoping that super-profit making private corporations will bring down prices of their own free will, it is time to re-create a state-owned retailer required to work in the public interest by delivering an essential service at the lowest possible cost.”
“It’s no coincidence that the cheapest retail electricity prices are in Tasmania, where the state still runs the system, while the most deregulated energy market in Victoria has some of the highest retail profit margins.”