Basslink: reap what you sow

Kim Booth

The Tasmanian Greens today said that the government’s need to bail the Hydro out of debt via an equity transfer from Transend is the Basslink gamble coming home to roost, because use of Basslink is costing money and not delivering a profit as predicted in its business case.

BASSLINK GAMBLE COMES HOME TO ROOST
No Long-Term Debt Repayment Strategy in Hydro
Quick Fix
Kim Booth MP
Greens Shadow Energy Spokesperson
Tuesday, 27 May 2008

www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today said that the government’s need to bail the Hydro out of debt via an equity transfer from Transend is the Basslink gamble coming home to roost, because use of Basslink is costing money and not delivering a profit as predicted in its business case.

Greens Shadow Energy Spokesperson Kim Booth MP criticised the failure of the government to outline any long term strategy to pay off the Hydro debt, instead seeking to transfer money from Transend simply to keep the Hydro’s head above water.

The Greens were scathing of the failure of the Hydro to plan for climate change, nor to implement an energy conservation and efficiency program for business and industry in Tasmania.

“The Greens predicted that Basslink would be a millstone for the Hydro with its $92 million annual cable rent fee to be covered before any power is even transmitted or paid for, and the failure to understand that it would come into operation as the impacts of climate change affected water storages, and power was imported rather than being exported,” said Mr Booth.

“There is a quick fix proposed now to keep the Hydro solvent for a little longer by the transfer of equity from Transend, but there is no long term strategy to pay out Hydro debt.”

“It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul by shuffling the debt around, but where is the long term repayment strategy?”

“Labor hoodwinked Tasmanians at the same time as they bled the Hydro dry with special dividend payments, because while they trumpeted the reduction of net general government debt they were stacking up huge unsustainable debt levels in government businesses that now have to be dealt with.”

“It was always more than a bit rich to claim Labor had got debt under control, and this rescue bid for the Hydro is the evidence.”

“That the Hydro refused to plan for climate change years after it was an obvious fact of life and still have no energy conservation and efficiency program operating with business and industry is negligent.

Mr Booth also said that it was a cynical move by the Labor government to make this announcement and release finally an expurgated version of the Ernst and Young Report, to coincide on the first day that David Bartlett faced Parliament as Premier, and that it smacked of an attempt to camouflage bad news.