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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-12-01 Daily Xml
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Electricity Prices

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:12): My question is to the Minister for Energy. Why are South Australians paying $212 more for the electricity in their homes than the Marshall Liberal government had promised they would? With your leave sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Australian Energy Regulator 2021 Annual Benchmarking Report reveals South Australians have the highest energy residential power prices of any state or territory in the National Electricity Market. The Liberal Party policy document prior to the last state election specifically stated their measures would see, and I quote, 'an average South Australian household power bill fall by $302 compared to the latest 2016-17 prices'. On that measure, prices this year should have been $1,572 per year, a $302 reduction compared to the 2016-17 price of $1,874 but the report says the price is $1,784.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hurtle Vale!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier and the member for West Torrens will cease their exchange.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Deputy Premier, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:14): It's quite extraordinary—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —after the member for West Torrens was the former Labor government's energy minister and in the last two years of their term power prices went up $477 for South Australians, to be asking why power prices are higher in South Australia than in some other places.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier! Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Let me be very clear: two independent consumer-focused—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —organisations, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia and the Australian Energy Regulator—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Both show you broke your promise.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —have both looked at the facts and their information makes it very, very clear that we have delivered—more than delivered—on our commitment with regard to the reduction in electricity prices. It is quite extraordinary for those opposite to even want to raise this topic, to be quite frank, because at the same time as we have reduced electricity prices for all South Australians we have reduced emissions as well. We have also moved from being the worst state in the nation with regard to blackout reliability to the best in the nation on blackout reliability.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Those opposite will be thrilled to know that the wholesale cost of electricity in South Australia is plummeting and the wholesale price today—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —will reflect the retail price tomorrow. So we are very optimistic that not only have we delivered $303 per year—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —over the period since the election according to ESCOSA, or $422 over the period since the election—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: What about your election commitment?

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —by the figures produced by the AER, but the fact that wholesale prices are also falling very dramatically in South Australia and faster than most other states, those opposite will be thrilled to know, means the future retail prices of electricity will continue to go down. Let me also just say—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —that this has not yet factored in the $100 per year benefit that we are all aware of associated with the interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Commissioning of the interconnector will commence in 2023. That will be an absolutely fantastic step forward for South Australia and it will be a step that carries on from 20 years ago when the Labor Party and those opposite said that they would build an interconnector with New South Wales.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Former Premier Rann—

The Hon. R. Sanderson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Child Protection is called to order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —said that that would happen and in fact they held that policy for a very long time. They didn't deliver on the policy. They just said they were going to do it for a very long time, right up until the moment when we said that we actually thought it was a great idea too. Those opposite then decided it was a bad idea. We have had a whole range of different opinions from those opposite from 'I don't know what you are talking about' to 'That was never our policy' to 'Yes, I still disagree and I think it's a terrible idea.'

But what everybody knows, what they have never ever disagreed with, is that there will be another $100 reduction per year for the average South Australian household in electricity bills due to the interconnector. So a $477 increase in the last two years of Labor, a $303 or $422 increase—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —I'm happy to split the difference and take the number in the middle—since we came into government and there is plenty more still to come.

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