House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Power Prices Power Prices Mr PATTERSON House of Assembly Morphett Power Prices Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:56): My question is again to the Minister for Small and Family Business. What does the Minister for Small and Family Business say to the family business Angove Family Winemakers about the cost of power in South Australia? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr PATTERSON House of Assembly Morphett Mr PATTERSON: It has been reported that Angove Family Winemakers has had its power bill jump by 45 per cent. Joint managing director Richard Angove said that the business environment has never been as tough, possibly with the exception of world wars. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:56): I think we have made it pretty clear that nationally small businesses are doing it tough, which is represented, one, in the growth figures, and, two, in the national crisis around gas prices, which is pushing up power prices because the country has underbuilt its generation capacity. The members make a complaint about those policies, yet when they were in office, their one policy was to connect us to those jurisdictions that have underbuilt their renewable resources and are closing their dispatchable generation and displacing our generation through that connection. That connection, operation Project EnergyConnect— Members interjecting: The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That's right, the member opposite says we supported it, but it wasn't our only policy. We had a suite of policies, including backup generation, which members opposite sold at the first opportunity. It's no coincidence that the moment they sold those backup generators 178 megawatts came out of the system. So they put 200 in and 178 came out. Now, while we are connecting to Project EnergyConnect, we warned them of this if they did it too early. They are connecting an 800-megawatt interconnection, and what's closing: 780 megawatts of South Australian generation. There is a displacement going on while they put a freeze on renewable energy being built in the state. And then, on top of that, they banned fracture stimulation in the South-East over the second largest gas basin in South Australia. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond, you are warned. Mr Teague interjecting: The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Like when your colleagues are not giving you an SC? It's alright, we're both JPs, aren't we? The energy crisis that is hitting the country can be linked to external factors which everyone can see. There is not some secret recipe here in South Australia, or anywhere else, that makes us unique. The truth is that half the bill in South Australia is transmission and distribution costs, and we are in the hands of a monopoly on those two areas. Why? Members opposite sold them to a monopoly, and then they opposed to appoint a regulatory framework, which allows those monopolies to increase their prices each and every year. Rather than that return coming to South Australians' pockets, it goes to foreign investors. So don't lecture us about the cost of power prices, don't lecture us about the structure of the power grid and don't lecture us about gas prices. Do you want to know who the guilty party is? It's over there.