POWER prices are soaring, crippling many industries and forcing low-income households to take drastic measures to save money such as turning off heaters or buying less food.
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There is also growing evidence that in Victoria, power companies are cutting off the power to an increasing number of people who can’t pay their bills.
In response, the state government has authorised the Essential Services Commission to hold an inquiry into household disconnections and what can be done about it.
Nationally, the Abbott government knows that the soaring cost of power is having a huge impact on the lives of Australians.
From the largest corporations all the way down to the humblest of households, all of us rely on power.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that in the five years to June 2012, Australia’s retail electricity prices rose by 72 per cent, with even higher increases in Melbourne and Sydney.
The Abbott government blamed the carbon tax for some of that and repealed it, claiming that it will reduce the cost of doing business and bring power prices down.
It also has the Renewable Energy Target in its sights. The RET, which aims to ensure that 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020, is of particular significance to the wind energy industry which stands to gain a great deal if it stays.
Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer’s United Party want to keep the RET, but the Coalition believes that pursuing renewable energy policies that don’t actually deliver a great deal of power is madness, especially when it is supported by coal in the first place.
Meanwhile, as the cost goes up, our standard of living goes down and that is happening alarmingly quickly for too many people.
Australians are crying out for decisive leadership on the issue of power instead of the mish-mash of competing ideas and vested interests that form the nation’s approach to our energy needs at the moment.