Hold on a sec, weren't we all told that privatisation would lead to cheaper electricity prices?
Weren't we told that repealing the carbon tax would lead to cheaper electricity prices?
Weren't we told that sticking with (more expensive) coal and gas power over (cheaper) renewables and storage would lead to cheaper electricity prices?
From the ABC:
"At the heart of the price gouging inquiry, initiated by the ACTU and led by Allan Fels, is determining in a high inflation environment what's general inflation and what else might be influencing pricing behaviour, the main offending price gouging industries, how they do it and how it impacts everyday Australians.
"Part of the problem is Australia is awash with oligopolies, which means there isn't as much price competition as there might otherwise be, which helps explain why real wage growth has been low and why the real prices of so many goods are so high.
"And while most of the media attention has been on Coles and Woolworths, the report will include other sectors accused of customer gouging and breaching trust such as energy, airlines and banks.
"Sydney University professor Lynne Chester, from the school of social and political sciences, supplied the inquiry with a detailed submission ... [which] said electricity prices have been escalating since 2005, largely due to increases in the charges paid for the generation of electricity. She said the charge for electricity makes up a significant component of the electricity price paid for by consumers.
"A key issue was that the regulation was designed for a competitive market, assuming competition would deliver lower prices, but the market was never competitive due to the presence of big powerful generator companies that have been merging with retail companies to create giants such as AGL, Origin and Energy Australia."
@ajsadauskas@australianpolitics yeah if you can't feasible set up a competitor it fails the 'should be privatised' test. Ofc there's caveats on having a private operator running specific functions but selling infrastructure that is 'one of a kind' and very necessary into private hands is insane. Dams, rail roads, highways, transmission infrastructure all fall in this category.
@ljj@ajsadauskas@australianpolitics the worst thing is that everyone involved knew it was a con, but they did it anyway, because the con was the whole point
Same thing happened in Belgium. In the 90´s, the electric company was national. Then they privatized and sold EVERYTHING to France’s GDF Suez, and now they own our national grid and price gouge us. I mean, the choice is between extortion and nothing at all.
I don’t remember the privatisation specifically, but I can guess it went something like this
If you’re a Liberal voter, you were told that capitalism will trickle down all over you. Sure you have to put the boot into some poor people, but they’re all dole bludgers anyway
If you’re a Labor, Greens or Independent voter you were told to go fuck yourself
Labour in Aotearoa court the corporate now. There is no true workers party. All the parties want to bankrupt the middle class, if it still exists, I think we are just mostly poor.
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