Power Prices

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:47): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier take action to bring down power prices in South Australia and, if so, when? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PATTERSON: The latest Australian Energy Regulator's wholesale market report shows that in South Australia the average wholesale power price increased from $100 per megawatt hour in the 2023 calendar year to $128 per megawatt hour in the 2024 year.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:48): When you compare the AEMO Quarterly Energy Dynamics report, the AER Q4 wholesale price report, which the shadow member will not quote, to quarter 3 of 2024, when South Australia was impacted by high price events, we have seen a 60 per cent decrease in prices in Q4 of 2024. He cherrypicks, right? Even a clock is right twice a day. What he is doing is he is cherrypicking an argument, sticking to that to go out and frighten people—

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett, you have asked your question. Please listen to the answer or you will leave the chamber.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —to not turn on their air conditioners. What I am showing is the volatility in the wholesale market is so volatile that you have these extraordinary price fluctuations, but picking out a point in time and saying this is a norm forever is just simply not accurate. The member knows this. This is complicated—

Mr Patterson: That's why I chase for the whole year, Tom.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, chasing is the right word; it's the part in front that you have forgotten. I have to say, it is encouraging to note that South Australia's average wholesale prices have fallen by 32 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year. This report, the way AEMO and the AER release it, is more holistic. We will talk about strategies to lower power prices. The truth is, what is setting power prices in South Australia is gas. The higher price of gas is setting power prices.

When you have high prices in thermal production, what offsets it is renewable energy. What you've got under this government is an active policy piece to have more renewable energy into the system to help lower power prices, and it is working. The more we use renewables, the less we pay for our power. But when you have gas backing up wind and solar in an intermittent way, what you find then is that gas then sets the price for power prices, and that means it is higher.

As I said earlier, the reason gas prices are higher is because of restrictive policies that have been legislated in this place by members opposite. They legislate—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett, I have asked you to remain quiet while listening to the minister's answer to your question. If you want to ask your next couple of questions and not be in the tuckshop, you might want to be quiet.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I will give the house some real-life examples. When gas sets the price, prices spike. As you saw in that part that the shadow minister was quoting, gas is setting the price. But in Q4 of 2024, South Australia had a record number of negative price intervals due to a combination of better weather, higher rooftop solar output, and continued increase in generation from renewables. Negative prices led to a quarterly volume weighted average price of $9 per megawatt hour lower in South Australia.

Mr Telfer: That's in quarter 2024.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: 2024, yes, that was two months ago.

Mr Telfer: Quarter 4—well, unfortunately, we've got 12 months. We've got four quarters that we have to do, not just one.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Congratulations. Tell your colleague.

Mr Telfer: What's it like compared with quarter 3?

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, has the member for Morphett just passed you a little note to say that you can yell them out?

Mr Telfer: He's opening the door, sir.

The SPEAKER: I don't want any noise from there, from that little part of the chamber. I want to hear the answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is important to note that South Australia does not have the highest prices in the NEM, and just yelling it out doesn't make it so.