❓ Question regarding projected electricity price rises after the next election. The Premier acknowledges likely price increases due to rising input costs and carbon pricing, but cannot yet quantify the amount, citing an ongoing review by the Office of Energy.
AnsweredQoN 438Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTRICITY PRICE RISES
(1) Has any work been undertaken within the Office of Energy, Treasury or Synergy to determine the amount by which electricity prices will need to rise after the next election? (2) If not, why not? (3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
(1) Has any work been undertaken within the Office of Energy, Treasury or Synergy to determine the amount by which electricity prices will need to rise after the next election? (2) If not, why not? (3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(2) If not, why not? (3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(2) If not, why not? (3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(3) Is so, what is the projected increase in the general residential - A1 - tariff that will occur after the next election? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. (1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
(1)-(3) I hasten to say that of the three offices that the member mentioned, I do not believe any come under my direct - Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : Unfortunately, the minister is not in the chamber. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I know. Therefore, I will do my best to answer the question. However, on a day-to-day basis, it is hard for me to be able to answer details of a specific nature about activities in other departments. I think the member would appreciate that. This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
This is the situation that we are in: there is absolutely no doubt that the disaggregation of Western Power was a good thing. Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : Show us the evidence. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member supported it. Does he recall that he supported it in the Parliament? As part of that support, he required a guarantee that there would be no increase in the domestic tariff in the current term of the government. We gave that guarantee. Does the member recall that? Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : I do. We debated it last week, and you have broken it for some domestic customers. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : We had that debate last week. It is also undeniably true that there has been an increase in input costs to the generators in the meantime. Of course there has been. There has been a significant increase in the costs. However, the bulk of the revenues from the charges applicable to domestic and small business consumers is capped. Therefore, that creates some degree of difficulty for Verve Energy. A review is being undertaken by the Office of Energy into energy prices. That review is not yet complete. Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : When will it be? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It will be complete when it is complete. I do not know when it will be complete, but I anticipate that it will be complete soon. When it is complete, we will have a better ability to make some judgements about what shifts will be required in energy pricing subsequent to the next election. However - I have said this innumerable times now - energy prices for consumers will go up, just as water prices have gone up, and not for dissimilar reasons. The cost of producing energy has gone up. Other costs will come to bear on energy prices. Carbon pricing will come to bear; emission - Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : How does that match up with the promise of downward pressure? There has been a 40 per cent increase, a 17 per cent increase or a 25 per cent increase, as we have seen, for some customers. How does that match up with downward pressure? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : The member for Darling Range should just sit and listen to this proposition. I will ask him a question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr J.H.D. Day : You have not kept your commitment, and the people of Western Australia have been misled. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Sorry; answer the question: is it possible for something to rise, even though there is downward pressure upon it? If not, how do planes fly; how do balloons go into the sky? If the upward pressure is greater than the downward pressure, the price will rise. It is a matter of by how much. If there were no downward pressure on pricing, the amount by which prices would rise would be substantially more. Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thank the Leader of the Opposition. That was good. I give the member top marks for that. It took a while coming. Yes, we are anticipating that there will be price rises post the 2009 election. There will be, and I am not going to try to mislead people by saying no, there will not be, and then after the election say that we were wrong about that and there will be price increases. We are yet to be able to determine the magnitude of those price increases because we do not have sufficient information. Members should think about it. I would be better off getting that information out sooner rather than later. The analysis is taking place. We are also working in a moving environment, because we have bearing down upon us, or should I say pushing upward on prices, the possibility - the very real possibility; in fact, the reality - of an emissions trading regime to be introduced in 2010, 2011 or 2012. That will have an effect on prices. There we are. Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr P.D. Omodei : You’ve done no research. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : After the extreme goodwill that was in the room last night, I determined today not to make any critical comment about the opposition, so I had better sit down!
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