War - and politics !

There are many similarities in the tactics used when nations go to war - and when political parties are fighting for the high ground in voter's minds.    Ambush is one of those tactics and both sides use deception to mask their real intent.  So it is with the fall out from the carbon tax that affected all Australian households on July 1.

Energy prices have risen forty-eight percent across the board in the past four years.  There is consternation that there will be similar increases in the next four year period and the Prime Minister is trying to shift the blame onto the head of the Conservative state governments.    She highlights the increases that have taken place in the Conservative ruled states, and totally ignores those same increases in the states governed by Labor regimes.

Of course, there is always a grain of truth on which to build an accusation.   Every state had a backlog of work needed to bring it's electricity distribution system up to scratch and the carbon tax presented a golden opportunity to sheet home the cost blame to Canberra - and that opportunity was gleefully accepted by both sides of state politics.

All the state governments brought forward there " poles and wires " renewal plans because this work needed to be done and would otherwise become a major issue after the carbon tax issue had died down - and when that happened the blame would rest on each of the state administrations.   By bringing it forward to coincide with the imposition of the carbon tax the states masked the poles and wires component and deftly shifted the blame to Canberra.

The Prime Minister is threatening to give new powers to the Energy Regulator and Consumer Commission, but this is not a problem that can be legislated away, nor can a commission delay the work needed to keep the lights on without consequences.    What is needed is acceptance that we require the tools to manage our power usage and a pricing system that allows us to select the most favourable time frame to turn on the switches.

The first consideration would be to replace the existing electric meters with " smart meters " that feed instant information to the power user.  We need to know how much power we are using and what we can do to lower the power bill, and that should happen within a  cost structure that varies according to the time of day.

Under such a regime, a working family may elect to set the washing machine to take care of the family laundry needs at a time when the charging rate is lowest  because it is a time of low demand.   A smart meter allows a family to " manage " their energy needs and make informed decisions when buying appliances.  At present, the only choice seems to be an off-peak hot water heater.  All other needs are at a uniform rate, with no discount for off-peak use.

Higher energy costs are a fact of life.   The only way to control energy bills is to put the decision making process back into the hands of the user !