{"id":20277,"date":"2013-01-11T12:58:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T02:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=20277"},"modified":"2021-01-22T11:12:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T01:12:47","slug":"etu-calls-for-inquiry-into-power-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/01\/11\/etu-calls-for-inquiry-into-power-price\/","title":{"rendered":"ETU Calls For Inquiry Into Power Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Braemar 2 Power Station, a 519MW gas-fired generator located at Wambo, north-east of Dalby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 11, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Electrical Trades Union is calling for a federal inquiry into claims that energy retailers in Queensland are paying as much as $12,000 per megawatt\/hour for electricity – more than 200 times the long term average cost of $50\/MWh.<\/p>\n

The union says it raises serious concerns about State Government decisions to mothball State-owned generation capacity.<\/p>\n

Two power generating units at Tarong Power Station were mothballed in October last year.<\/p>\n

ETU State Secretary Peter Simpson said the issue could only be addressed through a Federal Inquiry into the ownership links between privately owned “peaking” power stations and the State Government<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the situation where a government decision to remove 750MW of generating capacity from the baseload supply has handed the private sector gas-fired peaking stations a licence to print money, knowing that when temperatures rise they will be required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want to know is who owns these peaking stations that are holding Queenslanders to ransom and what connections – direct or indirect – do they have with the State Government whose decisions have benefitted them so much?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have written to the Federal Government seeking they initiate a Federal Inquiry as a matter of urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueenslanders deserve to have confidence in their politicians to make decisions in the public interest, not in the interest of private sector benefactors.”<\/p>\n

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