Media release – Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania (RAST), 1 December 2022
Sky rocketing power prices in Tasmania
The Hobart Showground has described as “astronomical” power price rises confronting it from this month as its current contract ends.
Owner of the Showground, the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania (RAST), says the full scale of power price rises are challenging for both business and consumers in Tasmania.
The Society has been offered a 12 month contract which is 105% more than the current cost of power. A two year contract represents a 91% increase on current power prices for the Hobart Showground, or an option for a three year contract is an 80% increase on current power bills.
“This is rampant inflation,” says Scott Gadd, CEO of the Society, “and a failure of policy. For many companies power price rises of this order will be impossible to absorb, and companies will need to pass on the costs to customers, or risk the future of their businesses.
Showground plans for self sufficient, renewable power system
“The RAST is in the fortunate position currently of redeveloping our Showground and as part of that, the board of the Society has provided funding for a full scale investigation of alternative, renewable, energy systems to be built into the redevelopment design.
“The Society is consulting widely on solutions to its power needs that will allow it to harvest its own electricity, store it, use it, and sell surplus supplies into the Tasmanian grid. Such a system would make it independent of traditional power providers.
“With the redevelopment of the Showground pending, and with rapidly spiralling power prices, now is the right time to build into our new Showground a power system that gives us back control and makes the site a producer of power, not a customer of the power companies.”
