The clown show that is Australia’s most “progressive” state and its failing, ruinously expensive electricity market just keeps getting funnier. It’s like a little Venezuela, right on our doorstep.
As I recently reported, Victorians are going to be very lucky to escape massive power shortages this summer, and they’re paying handsomely for the privilege.
They’re about to pay even more.
The Andrews government is to blame for an expected power bill price hike of as much as $50 per household, according to Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien.
Mr O’Brien’s comments came as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews blamed coal-fired power plants for warnings that the state could face blackouts this summer.
Red Dan blaming the coal-fired plants he is closing down as fast as he can for blackouts brings to mind Oliver Hardy upbraiding Stan Laurel for “another fine mess you’ve gotten us into”. Good little socialist that he is, Andrews is taxing the power market for all he’s worth.
The Australian Energy Regulator yesterday gave the go-ahead for electricity distributors to increase network charges from January 1 by up to $53 for households and $212 for small businesses.
The AER cited the cost of transmission and land taxes as the key reason for the price hikes, which will cost Victorians an extra $98.04m in network charges in 2020…Mr O’Brien said significant tax increases were the problem.
“Remember Daniel Andrews tripled the tax on brown coal, which led to the closure of Hazelwood, which led to an 85 per cent increase in wholesale power prices,” Mr O’Brien said.
“This is a government that believes you can tax anything, and it doesn’t have any flow-on effects, and it’s just not the case.
“We’re now the highest-taxed state in the country, we’ve got the highest debt in the country and the highest power prices in the country. That’s a pretty bad trifecta for Victorian consumers.”
theaustralian.com.au/nation/daniel-andrews-to-blame-for-power-price-hike-state-opposition/
Guess they shouldn’t have voted Andrews back in, huh?
The Germans have a word: schadenfreude. It describes the “malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else’s misfortune”.
It almost shames me to admit that I’m feeling more than a little malicious enjoyment from observing Victorians’ self-inflicted misfortunes. Almost.