PRESS RELEASE November 7 2008

Mountains households threatened by privatisation push

Blue Mountains households are being threatened by a new push by the Rees government to privatise electricity in NSW.

The move will see electricity retailers sold off and control of wholesale electricity trading shifted to private operators.

“Ninety six percent of NSW households use a government owned retailer,” said PeoplePower Blue Mountains spokesperson Phil Doyle. “Once this shifts into the hands of the private sector any guarantees the government has given about price controls or job protection won’t be worth the paper they’re written on.

“We have seen in Victoria that these controls can be dumped at the drop of a hat.

“Ask Victorians who experienced a 17 percent increase in power prices and hundreds of jobs sent to overseas call centres what they think of retail electricity privatisation.

“For households it’s a disaster.

“The proposal the government is putting forward over electricity trading is also problematic.

“It was put up in 2001 and 2004 and rejected by the NSW Treasury for the simple fact that it won’t work.

“In the end the cost-risk will be shifted onto households, creating a double whammy.

“None of what the Rees government is doing will help manage electricity demand or help a shift to sustainable energy supplies.

“Instead the government has put this in the too hard basket, shrugging its responsibility to serve the community interest.

Doyle pointed out that Nathan Rees’ predecessor lost his job over electricity privatisation and any politicians that supported this new plan would suffer the same fate.

“This is bad for households, bad for the environment and bad for the economy,” said Doyle.

PeoplePower Blue Mountains will be meeting at 8pm on Thursday November 13, upstairs at Blackburn’s Family Hotel in Parke Street Katoomba to discuss the community response to Rees’ privatisation plans.

A public meeting is planned for the same venue on Thursday November 20 to inform the community about what is contained in the Rees electricity privatisation plan.