Electricity Prices

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:21): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is taking expert advice—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for King will resume her seat. The member for West Torrens will leave for 20 minutes under standing order 137A.

The honourable member for West Torrens having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The member for King has the call.

Ms LUETHEN: My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is taking expert advice to drive down power prices?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:22): Thank you to the member for King, who is incredibly diligent on behalf of her constituents to make sure that costs of living are driven down all the time. One of the best ways that we can drive down the cost of living for the member for King's constituents—in fact all of our constituents—is by pushing down the price of electricity, and that is exactly what we are doing.

We are doing it, as the member for King asked about in her question, not by guessing, not by playing politics, not by doing some of the things that those opposite did when they were in power: we are actually working with industry. We are working with generators, with consumers, with distribution and transmission companies. We are working with every aspect of the industry and we are taking expert advice from the market bodies as well. Interestingly, it's working. We have just released a report yesterday that showed that since 1 July there has been a $111 reduction per year for the average South Australian electricity price.

Ms Cook interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hurtle Vale!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: The year before, it was $96, and the year before, it was $62. Since coming to government, our policies are working. The average residential cost of electricity prices available for consumers have gone down by $269 per year.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Lee!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: That's in stark contrast with what we saw four and five years ago under the previous administration. In two years, electricity prices by exactly the same measure went up by $420 per year. In three years, with our policies, based on expert advice and getting on, doing the job, implementing things, electricity prices have come down by $269 per year for all consumers. It's hardly surprising because you know what we didn't do—

Mr Brown: Which decade?

The SPEAKER: Member for Playford!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —was commit $600 million of taxpayers' money for dirty diesel generators to never be used. We didn't do that. What we are actually doing is leasing them into the market—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —so that they can run on gas, not on dirty diesel. They can be available every day of the year, unlike—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —our predecessors, who required—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —that they not be used every day of the year. The largest home battery scheme in the world on a per capita basis is being rolled out. Our household battery schemes, the South Australian government's Virtual Power Plant, has 221 megawatt hours of capacity into the system, working every day to support South Australians. Not only those households who have the equipment but also those households who don't have the equipment are benefiting from our policies: addressing low demand in the middle of the day, taking the peak off high demand in the evening and pushing wholesale prices down.

Our policies are working. Our policies are working because we didn't pursue them for political purposes like our predecessors. We took advice, we developed policies from opposition, we are implementing them in government and they are working.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Our grid-scale storage system is working, our household battery scheme is working, our demand management trials are working and our progress towards an interconnector with New South Wales will add another $100 per year reduction to the numbers I have already provided.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Reynell, I call to order the member for Hurtle Vale, I call to order the member for Colton and I call to order the member for Newland. I warn the member for Lee, I call to order the Minister for Education and I call to order the Premier. The member for Reynell.