Power bills still hurting, amid fears they’ll go higher and lack of trust in pollies to fix them

Want to pay LESS for your electricity? Join THIS campaign: http://www.johnkaye.org.au/campaigns/no-power-privatisation/ 

Professor John Quiggin, an economist at the University of Queensland, says the notion of ‘asset recycling’ is “dishonest” because the proceeds from the sale will be used “to build things that won’t generate an income”, such as roads, hospitals and schools. “The government then has to find a way of replacing the income lost from the assets, so they’re no better off than if they’d funded the new proposal using debt,” he says. Economist and former NSW Treasury official Dr Betty Con Walker agrees, calling Mike Baird’s plan “a crazy, tricky proposal”. Her husband, Sydney University emeritus professor of accounting Bob Walker, added: “Every academic I speak to says they [the NSW government] are just fiddling the figures. Every person in a suit says it’s crazy, but I’ll buy a share in it.” Long-standing critics of infrastructure privatisation, Professor and Dr Walker have penned a 39-page report that argues the asset sale is bad policy. They argue that, at current 10-year bond rates, borrowing to fund the new infrastructure would cost the government “a fraction” of the $1.7 billion that would be lost in annual income by selling the poles and wires. So why are they so intent on selling the poles and wires? Before going into politics, Mr Baird worked as an investment banker at NAB – a bank that specialises in funding private infrastructure projects, which may give him a pro-privatisation bias. “There is a very sharp cultural divide between the big end of town – the people who work in the CBD, business people, the finance sector, politicians of both parties who want privatisation even though they don’t always know why – and essentially everybody else who hates privatisation,” says Professor Quiggin. (.../... 1 of 2 ) 

Yes, I changed to Click Energy and am not happy with their billing system I pay by automatic payment and can' see where I am getting my discounts, thinking very strongly of changing to another provider. 

Sorry if I sound cynical..I am a single pensioner, pay rent, shop Aldi (including my vino..most important), gave up smoking 6 years ago, eat well..love my food and cooking for family and friends..my electricity bills are between $130 and $150 per quarter, go to the hairdresser six weekly..have some nice clothes,etc... Do not possess a bank card but am the queen of the lay bys...I am 70 and in good health and at the end of each pay week always have $'s left over..not many some weeks but still in the black.. Do not have a car but have an Opal card. I live in the lucky Country!!!! And no I do not have superannuation. 

Lack of trust in pollies? Read today (REUTERS Thursd the 15th of June 2015): An international deal to combat climate change is meant to be agreed in December but a meeting in Bonn, Germany, last week ended with little progress towards an agreement to keep average temperature rises within 2C. The proposed emissions cuts from 2020 offered by governments so far are unlikely to meet the 2C goal, a threshold scientists say is the limit beyond which the world will suffer ever worsening floods, droughts, storms and rising seas. Based on proposals submitted to the United Nations, and energy policies in countries that have yet to produce plans, the amount of emissions the world can produce if it has a 50 percent chance of keeping to 2C will be exceeded by 2040 - just eight months later than if there were no proposals, the IEA said. "If stronger action is not forthcoming after 2030, the path ... would be consistent with an average temperature increase of around 2.6C by 2100 and 3.5C after 2200," it added. Governments need to set conditions that will achieve an early peak in global energy-related emissions, and review their commitments every five years, the Paris-based IEA said. Global energy-related emissions could peak by 2020 if energy efficiency is improved; the construction of new coal plants is banned; investment in renewables is increased to $400 billion in 2030 from $270 billion in 2014; methane emissions are reduced and fossil fuel subsidies are phased out by 2030. "These measures have profound implications for the global energy mix, putting a brake on growth in oil and coal use within the next five years and further boosting renewables," the agency said. 

I recommend you join the new One Big Switch campaign, like I did: they're looking for 10,000 households to join their campaign and send a message that we want lower power prices.They'll use our people power to lobby retailers and the state government for a long-overdue cut to power bills in NSW. 

Who is happy with the sale in NSW of our Poles and Wires -many of you rubber stamped- to a foreign company (Chinese, perhaps since the "farm" Australia is now entirely on the market...)? The power networks senior management salary bill which would be expected to grow from its current $4.4 million a year to something much greater than the Victorian company's $8 million, given the much larger revenues and employee numbers. If the salaries matched their Victorian counter-parts in proportion to the revenue of the companies, the remuneration of ten senior executives would grow to $39 million a year, a nine-fold growth. However, it is likely that salaries would only increase in the first instance a factor of two or three. 

You wanted the obnoxious bunch at the helm, you have now got them and your budget for gas is now going to have to increase dramatically, thanks to Ian Macfarlane who refuses to put a domestic reserve aside for our domestic use (selling all we possess at inflated prices to the rest of the world) and insists on having our farmers (in NSW, in particular) go the American way, he wants them to sacrifice their land and water tables to extract the gas underneath by the dangerous methods as now revealed in the USA, fracking the rock, etc... . This government wants you to pay the same price as the price the North Asia region is going to pay for their unlimited and guaranteed supply of our gas. You wanted the Libs, you have got them and they are going to make you pay, they will make sure that the big end of town gets richer and the rest of you (a very very large majority) gets a lot lot poorer. 

Some Australian households are paying up to $1000 a year before they even turn on their electricity or gas. Why? Supply charges. These daily fees for being connected to the grid have more than doubled in 5 years in some parts of Australia and are now among the highest in the world, two recent stories have warned.*/** * "$1000 Power Shock", Herald Sun, 7 February, 2015 **"Aussie Power Bills startingly higher than overseas", The New Daily, 12 February 2015 WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT, YOURSELVES, JUST WHINGING? 

Attention Mr C Zinn. Sorry to provide this as an open letter, but you don’t apparently provide any feedback segment on this site. I’m totally dismayed at the ability of 1 individual to openly and fragrantly take over the FiftyUpClub ‘News’ segment without any adherence to your ‘Moderation Policy’. Most of his/her comments are bannered as ‘anonymous’ but obviously source by 1 nutter. It certainly lowers the FiftyupClub as a valued Senior Citizen site in my opinion.