SF author and techno-optimist Arthur C Clarke took it for granted that modern economies would eventually move to an “energy dollar”, rather than gold or paper-backed currencies. His reasoning was that, in an industrialised society, energy was at the heart of everything. He was right: everything from primary production and resource extraction, to communications and banking, relies on energy.
So, when the price of energy goes up, the price of everything goes up. Australians first learned this lesson with Julia Gillard’s carbon tax – “carbon” being a proxy for energy use. People who thought that “de-carbonising” the economy would come with no cost got a very rude shock. Everything from a latte at their favourite cafe to supermarket produce shot up in price.
Moving to ‘renewables’ only makes things worse, as wind and solar remain prohibitively expensive, even after decades of expansion. It’s no coincidence that Australia’s most wind and solar reliant state is hit hardest by soaring electricity prices.
Drakes Supermarkets boss John-Paul Drake has blasted the “rush to renewables” for soaring power bills which threaten the company’s growth.
Drakes, which employs more than 6000 people, has seen energy costs rocket from $10m in 2023 to an estimated $14.5m this year and issued a grim warning about renewables “screwing up the country.”
You’d have thought South Australians would have learned, when a catastrophic wind-farm failure completely blacked out the entire state for days (despite efforts to blame pylon collapses, the evidence shows that the blackout occurred just before the pylons went down, as wind farms shut down in high winds setting off a cascading failure across the entire grid). But never underestimate the Climate Cult’s blind obsession.
“I think we have got to be very cautious about trying to be green and realise how much it has screwed up the whole of the country.”
Drakes was among iconic South Australian companies surveyed by The Advertiser to find the impact of crippling power bills – it revealed they are grappling with mammoth increases of up to 60 per cent, with one saying it has been forced to pass on costs to customers […]
He believes part of the reason for spiralling bills is Australia’s “rush” to shift to renewables.
“I think this is the reason we are paying so much more for electricity, because we are trying to go all to renewables,” he said.
“I think we have got to be very cautious about trying to be green and realise how much it has screwed up the whole of the country.”
South Australia, which closed down its last coal station in 2016, has long had Australia’s highest power prices – at times, the highest in the world – but other mainland states are fast closing in. All because of the demented obsession with “Net Zero”.
Businesses have told The Advertiser they are seeing significant jumps in their power prices when their contracts wrap up and they go to market for a new agreement.
Seeley International, which produces airconditioning and gas heaters, also saw an almost 60 per cent increase in their power bills.
Group managing director Jon Seeley said their electricity use has remained fairly steady but their bills have soared.
And when the producer pays more, of course they’re going to pass the cost on to the consumer.
Mr Seeley said the company has had to increase prices to make up for the growing power costs […]
According to an SA Business Chamber report, South Australia has experienced the biggest increase in electricity bills in Australia.
Yet, Labor governments just bury their heads further in the sand.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the government was “acutely aware of the pressure on families and businesses brought by high energy prices, which are a symptom of policy failures at both national and state level dating back many years.”
“I had a briefing today from the chair of the Australian Energy Regulator who made it clear that it is not renewables but a shortage of gas that is driving up prices nationally,” he said.
And there is a shortage of gas, because…? Because ‘renewables’ are consistently failing to provide the reliable energy that coal did.
These people are barking mad.
