❓ Opposition questions the government's decision to change Synergy bill graphs from price to unit comparison, alleging it obscures the recent price hike. The Premier deflects, blaming the previous Labor government's energy policies for the current situation and future price increases.
AnsweredQoN 695Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SYNERGY — DOMESTIC BILL INFORMATION
I refer to the new round of Synergy bills—the first to represent the government’s recent 26 per cent price hike. The disclaimer on the bill states that some changes have been made to the graph on the bill so that the consumer will be able to compare electricity consumption from one period to the next. (1) Is the change in the billing graph from price comparison to unit comparison the government’s way of preventing consumers from making a clear comparison between this bill and their last? (2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT
I refer to the new round of Synergy bills—the first to represent the government’s recent 26 per cent price hike. The disclaimer on the bill states that some changes have been made to the graph on the bill so that the consumer will be able to compare electricity consumption from one period to the next. (1) Is the change in the billing graph from price comparison to unit comparison the government’s way of preventing consumers from making a clear comparison between this bill and their last? (2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(1) Is the change in the billing graph from price comparison to unit comparison the government’s way of preventing consumers from making a clear comparison between this bill and their last? (2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(1) Is the change in the billing graph from price comparison to unit comparison the government’s way of preventing consumers from making a clear comparison between this bill and their last? (2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(2) If not, why has the government changed the bill comparison, making it even harder for Western Australian families to see the full extent of the price hike? (3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(3) Will the Premier speak with the Minister for Energy to have him restore the comparison to a monetary value so that consumers can make a proper comparison from one electricity bill to the next? If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
If the Premier needs to take some advice, I am happy to have the attendant show him the bill so that he can see what I am referring to. Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: (1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
(1)-(3) This government fully supports information being available to consumers in every respect. If the Leader of the Opposition believes that this method of billing is somehow not providing the full information, I will certainly look into it. It is a bit rich, is it not, for the Labor Party to come into this place to try to make an issue of a significant price rise in electricity? Do not forget that it was the former Labor government, and the now Leader of the Opposition when he was energy minister, who went out there and promised Western Australians that splitting Western Power would lower their electricity prices. That was the promise. What was the outcome? A loss of $1 billion! In the final dying, desperate days of the former government a report was published that showed that electricity prices had to go up by at least 50 per cent. If a government had set out to lower electricity prices and its own report stated that they had to rise by 50 per cent, it would be so embarrassing that it could never come into this place and raise the issue again! The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
The sad news for electricity consumers is that there will be further increases. It will take one hell of a jolt and cost of living increase to Western Australian families for us to deal with the absolute incompetence of the former Labor government in energy—absolute incompetence! Not only did prices need to rise by 50 per cent, but the government could not even maintain power supplies! It had imported power generators operating in suburban parks in Dalkeith and other suburbs around the state. It actually ran out of electricity! What sort of a contribution was that? Instead of using natural gas and coal, it imported hundreds of millions of dollars of diesel at record world oil prices. It was the most incompetent performance on energy of any government in this state’s history, and the loss made by the Leader of the Opposition as energy minister paralleled the losses during the corrupt days of Brian Burke.
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