Sunday, June 24, 2007
Our Government at Work
Now that it’s work in providing us with a world class health system and a water supply of international standard is complete, our Government has decided that we should be given the benefit of an improved electricity supply arrangement, so that our costs do not remain steady.
At the present time, the Government owns the generation, distribution and retail system through Energex in South-East Queensland and Ergon in the rest of the State. In an effort to reduce our costs, as from 1st July, 2007, they will allow up to 20 different companies to buy electricity from the Government and sell it to the consumer. So far, it would appear that 12 license holders will be “active” in the market, mainly in South-East Queensland.
To date, the advantages of 12 retailers doing the job now performed by 1 (or 2 if Ergon is included) have been amply demonstrated by the announcement that the price of electricity to the domestic consumer will increase by 10% from 1st July, 2007. To my small mind, it seems reasonable to assume that running 12 businesses, each with the same basic overheads, would be substantially more expensive than running 1 (or 2) businesses and if these new entrants to the market can run at a profit, surely the Government has been overcharging us for electricity in the past.
