Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan has said the evidence is undeniable; the Minns Labor Government has lost control of energy resources and costs in NSW.
Families, farmers and small businesses in the Northern Tablelands, and right across regional NSW, are now being forced to fork out millions of dollars to cover additional levies and increased bureaucrats’ salaries.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has approved a nearly $600 million additional levy on all NSW electricity bills over the next financial year to pay for so called “administration and other costs associated with REZs”.
It was also revealed Essential Energy has nearly doubled the number of senior managers on the pay roll in the last two years.
“The botched roll out of renewable projects in the New England is dividing communities, and creating huge uncertainty,” Mr Moylan said.
“Our communities and farmers have been stuffed around enough. They have had transmission corridors changed, and timelines blow out without any clear communication or consultation.
The $600 million levy follows on from an unrelenting rise in regional power bills.
In the last two years alone, the average power bill in the Northern Tablelands has increased by 21 per cent.
Essential Energy blamed the rising costs on government taxes that “go towards addressing climate change and promoting the energy transition for a lower emissions future”.
In addition, the number of senior bureaucrats employed by the state-owned Essential Energy has nearly doubled since the last state election.
“People in regional NSW shouldn’t be paying higher power bills to fund a blowout in bureaucrats and cover for the government’s botched renewable energy roll out,” Mr Moylan said.
“Energy policy in NSW needs a reset. We need an energy plan that prioritises fairer costs.
“The current government’s approach to focus purely on renewables unfairly burdens regional NSW with all the heavy lifting and we are clearly seeing the evidence of that.
“Our energy future should not have to depend bulldozing massive power lines across prime agricultural land and dividing communities.
“Local communities, landowners and businesses should help decide how we get our energy.
“We need a commonsense approach to renewables, put them where they are actually wanted and where they make economic and practical sense.”
Media Release: Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan
