It seems that the three instrumentality's responsible for providing the electricity we use all have different agendas and therefore coordination is lacking in putting together a working plan to ensure we have both sufficient supply and a base price that is affordable.
The big problem seems to be peak loads. We need sufficient power generation to meet demand when users hit the switch but for most of the day this is laying idle. Add a few facts to the picture and the situation becomes much clearer.
Last year was the hottest on record in Australia. Most people now accept that global warming is a fact of life and there is the expectation that the years ahead will be even hotter. As a result,millions of Australian homes now have air conditioning and the rate is New South Wales is presently at 64%. A lot of the late afternoon peak can be directly attributed to people cooling their homes in summer and warming them in winter. This move to air conditioning is expected to continue on an upward graph.
The solar industry now has panels on the roof of 1.3 million Australian homes and that pace of installation is accelerating. Each solar collector comes with a smart meter that records unused electricity generated that flows backwards through the meter and becomes the property of the power company - for which they pay a miserable 6 c a kwh. Many households are self sufficient in their electricity needs - just so long as the sun is shining. They draw from their power supplier on overcast days - and during the night.
It should be the aim of both Federal and State governments to have a solar collector on the roof of every home in Australia - and to achieve that it should be mandatory for one to be installed as a matter of course on every new home or whenever a major renovation is planned. The extent of surplus electricity generated by such a national grid would go a long way to supplying industry and the overall daily demand.
Originally, the supply of electricity was a government function and if it were still a government owned industry fixing this problem would be a lot simpler. It has now passed into the private sector, and the main objective of the new power companies is to make a profit for their shareholders. What is required is a completely new working plan to integrate both commercial and domestic power generation within a cost framework that will be profitable for the power company and acceptable to the public.
Simply getting electricity from the point of generation to each user is costly. That involves "poles and wires "and since 2005 $8 billion has been spent upgrading services. Poles and wires must be maintained, irrespective of whether the load delivered is large - or small.
New thinking is required on the part of the power companies. A huge extension of the solar grid would present an opportunity to balance a mix of cheaper generating options. Obviously there would still be peaks on hot but overcast days and these could be filled with gas turbine generators - costly to run, but cheap to acquire - and the price charged to customers should reflect that whenever they are needed. The power companies have every right to provide their services at a profit.
Smart meters allow price variables to apply at different times of the day - and the option to use power when it is most expensive rests with the customer. The media would alert when a peak was approaching that would see a price increase and customers would decide whether to delay doing the family washing or putting on the air conditioner at their discretion. Power pricing needs to be variable - and each customer can then make a personal decision on how much to use now - or wait until it is cheaper at a later time.
It is quite possible to introduce a generating and pricing regime that balances the requirements of both levels of government and the profitability of the power companies. It just requires new thinking to take account of the realities of both weather and the technology available !
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