Carbon and Energy Markets has identified numerous problems with the National Energy Guarantee
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) commissioned economic and energy consultancy Carbon and Energy Markets’, Bruce Mountain, to provide an expert briefing on the Australian Government’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG). The issues identified include:
- The NEG would significantly disrupt the current structure of energy markets and require a major transformation of the current regime;
- Will take years to implement and potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars in transition costs;
- Will make Australia’s energy market less competitive by advantaging incumbent energy providers, and will disadvantage new, smaller, market entrants;
- Will require a large bureaucracy to manage and undermine power security;
- Will favour coal generators from competition provided by renewables and battery;
- There is no evidence in Australia or internationally of an approach similar to the NEG having ever been implemented or even proposed.
ACF Climate Campaigner, Suzanne Harter, said: “This expert analysis confirms that the NEG as proposed is bad policy. It will reward dirty polluters, reduce investment in clean energy, and create enormous costs and complexity without delivering the reductions in climate pollution.
“Under the proposed NEG, the electricity sector will not do its fair share to reduce climate pollution across the economy. That will place a greater burden on other sectors, such as transport and agriculture. The NEG will fail to deliver what Australia needs: an energy policy that will facilitate our transition from dirty, dangerous coal power, to clean energy.”
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
