(Sydney Morning Herald, 27 February)
It may well be that the regualtor imposed cuts in kVA demand charges are short-lived, increasing the need for batteries to cover kVA demand spikes.
“Households are faced with the reversal of cuts to power prices they received last year as efforts to halt ‘gold-plating’ of the electricity networks by slashing electricity companies’ over-spending were thrown into disarray on Friday.
A legal challenge has forced the regulator to redo its sums, which also threatens to delay the Baird government’s plans to privatise more power industry assets, as funds from the sale of Ausgrid had been expected to be received by mid-year.
“Consumers will likely have to pay more than we thought they should,” Paula Conboy, the head of the Australian Energy Regulator said on Friday of the challenge to her earlier decision to force through price cuts.
A ruling on Friday by the Australian Competition Tribunal has put at risk cuts of up to $300 a household to the annual electricity bill which was imposed from mid-2015.
The Australian Energy Regulator, an arm of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has been told to conduct a further review of the planned spending by electricity companies. Since the power companies are monopolies, their prices and spending plans are subject to scrutiny and approval by the government.
In Friday’s ruling, the tribunal said the regulator must review a range of assumptions and spending allowances that were included in its decision last year that saw prices fall. The tribunal said it found in favour of the power companies on some issues and the regulator on others, but given the complexity of the ruling, the final effect on prices will now take several months to finalise.”