TRANSCRIPT:
Annabelle CLEELAND:
While Labor continues to fumble its SEC roll-out, energy prices, reliability and security are all going backwards at a time when Victorians can least afford it. Victoria is the worst state in Australia for energy security, and Labor’s revival of the State Electricity Commission is not a viable solution. Nearly 18 months since the government announced it would revive the SEC it has done next to nothing to shore up our energy supply. At the same time we have seen the energy upgrades program, central to Victoria’s net zero emissions ambitions, fail as well.
The Victorian energy upgrade scheme and green schemes have been a widely publicised disaster. Fridges dumped on doorsteps, underperformance on carbon credit targets, poor quality installations and inappropriate marketing have all been associated with this program. Not only that but we are also seeing the green schemes have a disproportionate impact on the regional communities that are already struggling with massive energy concerns. Green schemes are allocated on cost per megawatt, meaning they are entirely consumption based. Regional communities like those in my electorate of Euroa do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to this, due to a lack of alternatives. While high-consumption households will pay more for the green schemes, these households also typically have more options and incentives to alter usage. Low-consumption households on the other hand typically have fewer appliances to start with and are likely to have smaller dwellings with limited improvement options. These households simply have to pay for the additional charges without being able to reduce their costs. At the same time these households’ contribution to the emissions released by household energy consumption is lower. Our regional households are having to pay more while having less reliable supply and an array of other disadvantages compared to city-based households.
For almost a decade now Labor has mismanaged nearly every aspect of our energy supply and failed to ensure the resilience of our network. It is unfortunate that everyday Victorians are quite literally paying the price for this mismanagement. From June 2022 to June 2023 electricity prices increased by 28 per cent in Victoria, more than the rest of the country. There also remains a significant disparity between the cost, reliability and resilience of energy supply between regional and metro areas.
Total energy cost increases for dual-fuel households in my region have amounted to $70 for average consumption levels, with the average annual combined energy bills in the area currently close to $4200. In comparison, metro regions and inner-city Melbourne saw rises of just $15 or $20, with total bills around $3600. This is enormous pressure during a cost-of-living crisis. It simply is not fair when residents in some of the worst-hit towns in my region say they experience up to 80 hours of power outages in January and December, with cuts ranging from hours to several days. It is clear that many of the issues in my region are due to there being a single line of supply running from Benalla to Violet Town through to Euroa and spreading out across the surrounding localities. Even though this supply line has been known as the most problematic in the state since the 1970s, nothing has been done to correct the problem. What is known for sure is the SEC will not fix this problem.
Many constituents in my electorate continue to suffer. I have received countless stories of how their lives continue to be inadvertently interrupted by this government’s failing power grid. I have some of these stories here with me today to share with you. Melisa told me:
We rely on power to keep our young kids and older generations safe and well in hot weather … So much wasted food due to power outages and most families cannot afford the extra cost of losing food.
Simon said to the government:
This is not a high socio economic area. People cannot afford to throw whole fridges of food away. They cannot afford batteries, solar and generators. They need a functioning grid, and it’s their right to have one. In the heat people will die because of the outages. Fix it.
Valentine said:
My partner lives in Euroa and was in an online job interview for a serious position that could now be jeopardised due to the power going out mid interview leaving her with no way to contact her interviewers.
Another respondent said, with comments from the Euroa chamber of commerce, representing so many businesses:
Businesses cannot trade efficiently, we often cannot take Eftpos payments due to reception being lost … We cannot close powered roller doors to our warehouse full of stock, turn on business alarms at the close of businesses, security systems don’t work, tills don’t open, atm machine does not work … businesses cannot even ask customers to pay in cash. Food cannot be kept cool or warm or be made … Due to a number of these factors occurring with an outage, we and other businesses have stay and watch the business or warehouse until we can securely lock up. We have seen at least a dozen customers over the last 2 months in store who have had to replace appliances due to the power going … off so suddenly and frequently. But also appliances that have been newly purchased are coming back to store faulty or with error codes because of the power outages. This has a huge impact on our business, dealing with frustrated customers and the time it takes to claim products and process service calls. For a small business these factors take a huge toll on staff and owners, something needs to be done now we have been dealing with this for too long!
Another respondent said:
The multiple power outages have delayed works on several property builds. Therefore putting us behind on our building schedule which effects other trades, materials delivers, bank finance staging.
After power outages around Christmas last year left 13,000 customers off supply in the north-east of the state, which covers most of my electorate, AusNet decided to do some research. From 500 people surveyed, 70 per cent said that energy reliability will become more important in the future, with only 1 per cent saying it will become less important. The research found some significant differences between the costs that customers experienced, depending on whether they had an all-electric connection or were using both electricity and gas connections. You might see where these comments are going now. Electricity-only customers spent on average $1100 to respond to that outage, whereas if they had a gas connection too that amount was reduced to just $360. This includes replacing foods, repairing damaged items and more ways in which these outages have impacted my community. As the electrification of our state continues, more customers are expected to use a network and test the bounds of our current supply levels. How is it going to get better? Rushing to get Victorians off gas when 60 per cent of households are reliant on it will only drive up demand for electricity at a time when Labor has failed to shore up the state’s generation capacity. We know that many regional communities are only fitted with gas options for heating, cooking and their water.
The lack of gas options in these houses will only put further pressure on our electricity supply that has already crumbled under the slightest bit of pressure over summer. Without a reliable electricity supply, removing these options is going to hurt our regional households. As gas appliances and connections continue to be removed from regional homes, more costs will be transferred onto residents. I am all for the responsible transition to renewables, but how are our already struggling communities meant to survive when there are no alternatives? The energy costs are astronomical and rising at a concerning rate. The reality is that people are having to choose between feeding their families or powering their homes, and that is a decision no-one should have to make. With rising interest rates and rental costs and the cost of keeping cars on the road and kids in school, it is clear that the Labor government is not doing enough to provide real relief for everyday Victorians. I have listened to the distress of my community and many more regional communities just like it, and the answer is not performances and stunts like adding the SEC to our constitution.