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The Great Green Con

Posted by: Michael Smith | 30 June, 2009 - 12:20 PM

The reality of how much the Emissions Trading Scheme is going to cost you is just starting to set in.

The only certain result of the new tax so far is that you and I will pay a lot more for electricity. Stephen Robertson, Queensland’s Minister for Energy has told us how that extra cost will be worked out.

Stephen Robertson has the authority to set the electricity price. He has passed on that authority to the Queensland Competition Authority. His letter of 24 June this year to the Chairman of the QCA makes his position very clear. - Download pdf here.

I have a bit of experience in translating bureaucratese. Here are the important bits of the letter.

“Customers need to see the impact of consumption decisions.” That means we need to pay more for using electricity.

“It is the Australian Government’s intention to introduce a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme on 1 July 2011. The CPRS will be Australia’s primary policy tool to deliver low emissions outcomes and put a price on carbon. Central to the CPRS is an electricity pricing regime that leads to changes in consumer behaviour.” That means we need to pay more for electricity.

“Noting the intent of the CPRS to internalise costs of carbon emission in consumption decisions, the Council of Australian Governments agreed that where retail prices were regulated (like Queensland) energy cost increases associated with the CPRS shall be passed through to end-use consumers.” That means we need to pay more for electricity.

“The Australian Energy Market Commission noted that under current arrangements retailers will not be able to cope with potentially large and rapid changes in retail costs due to a number of factors including the CPRS.” That means we will face large and rapid rises in electricity charges.

We have abundant reserves of cheap coal. Our power stations burn it very efficiently – there is not soot, no carboniferous pollution, no particulate matter in the air. It’s beautiful, clean, cheap power. Why should we pay more, and more, and more, for the wonderful resource of electricity?

Surely it’s a government’s first responsibility to make sure that its own people are looked after. This emissions tax will make not one jot of difference to the world’s climate or pollution. Even the most ardent supporters of the ETS say that its benefits are symbolic – that we must be “seen to be doing something at home” before we ask the rest of the world to join in.

Well the positive side might be symbolic. But the cost to households is very, very real. Power bills that will double or triple over time. And it’s starting now.

Blog comments

I was involved in an industry which used so called Ozone Depletants, at the time of the great hole in the sky. I saw refrigerants that I paid $0.94 cents a pound for, replced by inferior refrigerants and solvents that cost up to and over $50 a pound.
Suddenly, when all that was fait accompli and certain shadowie figures made mountains and oceans of money, the Ozone Hole was forgotten about. When I enquired I was told that it had begun to heal. What! In 20 years! How come, when Nature is still spewing out as much or more Ozone Depletants than it was at that time.
Oh. I see. Now we have a new end for the world, do we.

James Elkins Tuesday 18 August, 2009 - 2:01 PM
Michael,
This Piece of Pompous Political Puratanical Swill shows so openly the candor and contempt he has for his Country and its Electorate. From the moment this Dud Rudd Faggot addressed his German equals yesterday he surely must have proven to all present that he is a Bloody Fool. His arrogance shone brightly, as his words
passed on and not understood, and I don't believe that he wanted them to be, and were only an indication of his perspectivity. Dear Sweet Jesus, what have we done to our beloved Australia for I do believe that Prime Minister Kevin RUDD is a "dud" suffering from severe mental anguish. If I might coin a phrase from another blogger. "The man is a fool".

Phil - Springwood Thursday 9 July, 2009 - 9:50 AM
Albert,
Thanks for the information on the NIPCC Report. I can't wait to get a copy...
But wait... its publisher is the Heartland Institute. Aren't they that group that refutes the link between secondhand smoke (passive smoking) and lung cancer?
Aren't they funded by the oil company, ExxonMobil? Hmmm... what has the oil industry got to lose from climate cgange policies?
And this author, the 85 year-old Dr. Fred Singer - hasn't he got ties to at least 11 organisations funded by ExxonMobil?
Actually, Albert, I might hold on to my US$195.95 and rely on some more credible, reliable and unencumbered findings.

bigfella Wednesday 1 July, 2009 - 1:51 PM
The following is copied from Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change.

On June 2, as Congress debated global warming legislation that would raise energy costs to consumers by hundreds of billions of dollars, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change NIPCC released an 880 page book challenging the scientific basis of concerns that global warming is either man made or would have harmful effects.

In Climate Change Reconsidered, The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change NIPCC coauthors Dr. S. Fred Singer and Dr. Craig Idso and 35 contributors and reviewers present an authoritative and detailed rebuttal of the findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC, on which the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress rely for their regulatory proposals.
The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support for the position that the warming of the twentieth century was moderate and not unprecedented, that its impact on human health and wildlife was positive, and that carbon dioxide probably is not the driving factor behind climate change.
The authors cite thousands of peer reviewed research papers and books that were ignored by the IPCC, plus additional scientific research that became available after the IPCCs self imposed deadline of May 2006.

Albert Tuesday 30 June, 2009 - 10:19 PM
Many years ago we joked about the Government taxing us for the air we breathe, that day has finally arrived, the tax is disguised as ETS, CPRS, and for most of us RIP, take your pick. In the United States the very close vote in the Congress, 219 to 212 needs to pass the Senate, so their final decision rests on shaky ground, the Senate may reject it. Our PM is now asking the Opposition to support his ETS because the Americans have moved on it, yet it still does not have their Senate approval. We must be very careful about following President Obama, he is not yet proven to be the Messiah, he may be fallible. The PM should endeavour to convince the Opposition about the merit of his ETS, remove the censorship on those with dissenting views and refrain from the argument that the Americans have moved on it. Will we ever cut the umbilical cord that joins us to the U.S.

Albert Tuesday 30 June, 2009 - 1:50 PM