WA energy transition: Amber-Jade Sanderson touts green roll-out amid sign of power price pressure easing

Amber-Jade Sanderson has talked up WA’s roll out of green energy after new data showed power prices were finally on the way down. Yet the Energy Minister acknowledged there’s still some distance to go before electricity costs are at a level the State Government will be comfortable with. Prices on WA’s wholesale market were 13 per cent lower in the December quarter compared to a year prior, at just less than $70 per megawatt hour — substantially reduced after a big Spring peak. Additional charges to keep the grid reliable mean industry faces a much higher cost. “Of course we want to see those costs come down,” Ms Sanderson said when asked whether the overall price was too high. “What we’ve seen in the last quarter is that those costs are starting to come down.” Households have had a defence against rising wholesale power costs because the Government sets their bills and pumps taxpayer cash into Synergy to fill the gap. That means families did not feel the pain of the September price peak but likely won’t get much benefit from the decline, either. Ms Sanderson said renewables had supplied more than half the electricity for the past three months and spruiked the State Government’s investments into batteries, expanding the power grid and a bigger wind farm at Warradarge. But shadow energy minister Steve Thomas said the government was claiming credit for the effect of household solar. “It is amusing to watch the Government claim credit . . . when that increase is almost entirely due to more rooftop solar panels being installed on the houses of private West Australians,” he said. “Almost none of the increase is coming from State Government generators.” He also warned that rising reserve capacity payments — cash given to generators to be available — and network costs would chew up any benefit from renewables pushing down wholesale prices. Payments for reserve capacity would be expected to rise with Synergy’s taxpayer-owned coal fleet scheduled to close by 2030. “Much of the cost of power comes from the distribution network and the capacity credit scheme which pays millions of dollars to generators to be available when the sun goes down and wind dies,” he said. “Which means despite the Cook Government getting cheap power from your rooftops the power you buy from the Government is only going to cost you more.” Ms Sanderson insisted the capacity payments would still be cheaper than running the coal power stations into the next decade. Keeping the State’s newest publicly-owned generator, Collie, running would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, she said. “If we keep coal beyond 2030 costs will rise . . . it’s time for a newer, cheaper, cleaner, technology.” Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief Aaron Morey said industry needed supply of power to be affordable and reliable while moving to lower emissions. He said industry needed to be supported through the transition and the group was having constructive talks with the State Government.