Antinuclear

As Australians reduce electricity use, Energy Australia gears up to fight renewable energy?

EnergyAustralia says one key focus of the coming year will be the managing the implications of reducing growth in energy demand,

Its other key focus, it says, will be on “policy advocacy”

Australian energy utilities buffeted by winds of change, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson  26 February 2013 The winds of change in the energy industry has struck at the heart of the earnings of another of the country’s big three utilities, EnergyAustralia, which has reported a 42 per cent slump in profits as a result of the changing dynamics in the sector – lower wholesale prices, greater uptake of solar, and other decentralised generation, and lower consumption from energy efficiency.

It may seem ironic that in a year when consumer electricity prices jumped so sharply that Australia’s biggest energy utilities should suffer such sharp falls in profit. But the other big trend to weigh on EnergyAustralia’s earnings was a cost-conscious public, who are either reducing consumption or producing it themselves, through rooftop solar.

EnergyAustralia said that on average, its average electricity sales per household in Victoria fell by more than 10 per cent from 6.5MWhs in 2011 to 5.8MWhs in 2012. Across the eastern seaboard, the fall in consumption from its more than 2.5 million retail customers fell by between 5 and 10 per cent.

So fine have energy business models been calibrated that this fall in demand translated into a fall in the retail electricity business of around 25 per cent, and a fall in the profits of the overall business by 42 per cent to HK$1,685 million, compared to HK$2,911 million the previous year. (EnergyAustralia is owned by the Hong Kong based CLP Holdings). This fall follows a 35 per cent fall in earnings from the country’s largest energy retailer, Origin Energy, announced last week……..

EnergyAustralia says one key focus of the coming year will be the managing the implications of reducing growth in energy demand, which it noted is leading to suppressed wholesale prices.

“This requires EnergyAustralia to pursue strategies which optimise the manner in which the availability of its generating capacity and energy trading activities are conducted,” it said, suggesting that Yallourn units may be pulled offline – at least in the winter months – in the future.

Its other key focus, it says, will be on “policy advocacy”. EnergyAustralia was one of the fiercest opponents of the Renewable Energy Target, arguing that maintaining the fixed target of 41,000GWh would cause damage to its business, and raise costs for customers. It noted in this week’s announcement that the wholesale price continued to be lowered by the build-out of renewables.

That argument against the RET was rejected by the Climate Change Authority, which recommended the status quo be retained. But EnergyAustralia seems hopeful that its argument may win out in the end……..

– See more at: http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/australian-energy-utilities-buffeted-by-winds-of-change-54368#sthash.xQOKz4nx.dpuf

February 28, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy