Australian power prices will nearly double by 2029 due to the Labor government’s ongoing commitment to “net zero” emissions, according to new modelling.
The analysis by consultancy Rystad Energy found that wholesale prices could rise from $60 to $110 per megawatt hour due to the construction of wind and solar projects being outstripped by the closure of coal plants – many of which were announced under previous Coalition governments.
The coal plant closures are also projected to cause winter price spikes due to lack of renewable energy capacity, while households are already facing higher bills despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s broken 2022 election promise to cut them by $275.
“We’re exiting coal at double the rates at which we’re building renewables,” Rystad senior analyst David Dixon told The Australian.
“And because we’re not installing enough wind, prices will be squeezed.”
Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who is leading negotiations at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey, blamed his predecessor, now-Opposition leader Angus Taylor, for passing on weak renewable projects to the current government.
“Australia did not have the strong pipeline of investment-ready projects that Australia needed because of Angus Taylor’s failures as energy minister,” a spokesperson for Mr Bowen said.
Libertarian Party MP John Ruddick said the uniparty had taken a “massive punt” on renewable energy that had not paid off, and said next year’s NSW election would determine whether the state remained part of the developed world.
“We’re almost in 2027 and it’s now forecast that by 2029 electricity prices will double from today’s prices,” Mr Ruddick said.
“Why? Because they’ve ripped down most of our coal fired power stations before the renewables have proven themselves. We’ve taken a massive punt on renewables … and that punt hasn’t paid.
“The NSW 2027 election is a referendum on whether you want NSW to join the third world.”
One Nation, which is leading in the polls, has vowed to abolish Australia’s “net zero” policy, scrap the Department of Climate Change, exit the Paris Agreement signed by the Turnbull Coalition govermment, repeal the ban on commercial nuclear energy, and build new coal plants.
The Coalition late last year scrapped its longstanding “net zero” policy, and Mr Taylor said in September that if re-elected it would cancel offshore wind zones, climate laws for heavy industry and car makers, and lift the nuclear energy ban.
Header image: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Mr Bowen at a pre-COP summit in October (ALP).
