Power bill pressures vs emissions vs reliability: Behind the new election battleground.
Author: ABC NEWS Date Posted:23 November 2018
Power bills are too high. You know it and so, now, do the politicians.
In the past decade, people are paying one third more than they used to in order to keep the lights on.
But even if bills did get cheaper, paying for energy is useless if the power goes down or climate change makes Australia inhospitable.
That's the conundrum facing politicians today, and so far they have been unable to do much about it.
Price versus emissions versus reliability.
It's brought down prime ministers, and now it's set to be at the heart of the 2019 election
Summer is the time when the energy market is usually tested to its limits, when millions of Australians want air conditioners switched on during hot weather.
How bills are made
The theory behind the energy market is that higher prices will trigger new investment, increasing competition and keeping prices in check.
Market watching
Rising network costs, environmental charges and retailer profits are the drivers of power bill increases, according to the ACCC, together with the volatility of the energy market.
The role of emissions
Climate change and its potential consequences have prompted a worldwide effort to reduce carbon emissions.
Keeping the lights on
The South Australian blackout of 2016 shut down power for almost the entire state for hours.
Trilemma election
An intense policy process during 2017 and 2018 sought to bring together the three competing priorities: price, emissions and reliability.
