Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Premier; Michael Ferguson, Treasurer, 5 August 2023
Rockliff Liberal Government to deliver millions of dollars in energy bill relief to Tasmanians
The Rockliff Liberal Government will deliver millions of dollars in energy bill relief to Tasmanians as the second step in our Tasmania First Energy Guarantee.
“On Friday, I announced that my Government would secure a future for the Marinus Link Project that puts Tasmania first, as part of our Energy Guarantee,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that we will deliver our first Renewable Energy Dividend to all Tasmanians this financial year, earlier than forecast in my February address.
“Hydro was built by Tasmanians, for Tasmanians, and now Tasmanians will rightly reap the rewards of this Tasmanian success story.
“As I flagged in my State of the State speech, we are introducing a new Renewable Energy Dividend.
“ The Renewable Energy Dividend (the RED scheme) means when Hydro makes money, Tasmanians save money.
“Just like shareholders receive a dividend when a business is making a profit, Tasmanians will now directly share in Hydro’s profits, and the benefits will expand as future energy projects come online.
“Under the RED scheme, every year that Hydro returns dividends in excess of $100 million, Tasmanians will directly share in it. This is an innovative cost of living measure that will help every single Tasmanian household with their energy bills.
“The Renewable Energy Dividend will appear as a financial credit on their bill, which means they will pay less, and save more.
“Every dollar counts, and this action as part of our Tasmania First Energy Guarantee is just another way that my Government is delivering on what matters most to all Tasmanians, including cost of living relief.”
Minister for Energy and Renewables Guy Barnett said Hydro had delivered a profit in excess of $100 million five out of the past 10 years.
“Hydro has a strong track record of being a successful business, and our investments in renewable energy will secure this,” Minister Barnett said.
“This is an innovative way that Tasmanians benefit from our renewable energy credentials, and as we bring more renewable energy online, the opportunity for Tasmanians to reap the rewards will go up too.
“This dividend will assist every Tasmanian household, around 254,000, that have a domestic electricity connection.”
This is the second step in delivering on our Tasmania First Energy Guarantee, and the Government looks forward to detailing more ways that we will secure Tasmanian energy for Tasmanians, at Tasmanian prices.
Treasurer Michael Ferguson said Hydro returns its dividends in December of every year, and Tasmanians could receive the discount on their energy bill in the first half of each calendar year.
“Currently, Hydro returns between 70 to 90 per cent of its profits to the State Government, which are then used in the ordinary operations of the government, including on essential services such as health and education.
“So, it’s important to strike a balance between the dividends which are retained by the Government for funding services and repaying debt, and returning some of that money directly to Tasmanian electricity users.
“Under the RED scheme, 50 per cent of any dividends on profits over $100 million will go directly to bill relief, while the remainder will go to essential services like health, housing and education.
“For example, Tasmanians could expect a saving of around $100 off their power bill for that year, if Hydro delivered a dividend of around $160 million.”
The RED scheme will be reviewed after four years of operation.
Media release – Dean Winter MP, Shadow Minister for Energy and Renewables, 5 August 2023
You cannot trust the Liberals on energy
Jeremy Rockliff has admitted his Government’s energy policy has been all wrong.
Hydro Tasmania will produce another massive profit off the back of Tasmanian households and businesses. It will do so because Jeremy Rockliff and Guy Barnett broke their 2018 promise to de-link from the National Electricity Market (NEM) (2018 policy) and to cap power prices if there was high volatility in the NEM (2021 policy).
Today’s policy backflip does nothing for businesses fighting against power bills that have doubled or tripled and it does nothing for major industrials who can’t get the power they need and have no certainty once Hydro becomes a firmer and refuses to deal with them.
Under Labor’s plan, we will cap power prices so that Tasmanians pay a low, Tasmanian price. Under Jeremy Rockliff’s plan, Tasmanian families will still pay a mainland price and then Hydro will give them a lousy $100 back from its super profits. The Liberals will smash household and businesses with massive price hikes and then offer them a tiny bit back to say ‘sorry’. That will happen every single year under the Liberals.
In the Premier’s own words, his plan is to rip $160 million of energy profits out of household budgets and businesses this year, and then give just $30 million back as a ‘discount’ on power bills. If the Premier thinks Tasmanians will accept this insulting rip off he has another thing coming.
The average Tasmanian household will be more than $400 per year better off under Labor’s plan. We know how important the Hydro is to Tasmania. Labor Governments built the Hydro, a Labor Government saved the Hydro from a Liberal fire sale and it will be a Labor Government that rebuilds it in the future.
Under the Liberals, Hydro Tasmania has been turned into a cash cow, rather than a strategic asset to build Tasmania’s economic future.
Now they are changing policy again and it is a mess. The Tasmanian Liberal Government is a national laughing stock, having signed off a deal to build Marinus just nine months ago, and now walking away from its own deal.
We will rebuild the Hydro into what it was and should always have been: a publicly owned, publicly operated economic engine for the state.
You cannot trust the Liberals on energy. They almost blacked out the state in 2016, have spent 10 years and $100 million talking about Marinus, before walking away from the deal to build it, and they have let prices go up by 22.5% in just two years.
Media release – TasCOSS, 5 August 2023
Tasmanian Renewable Energy Dividend
The following quotes may be attributed to TasCOSS CEO, Ms Adrienne Picone:
- TasCOSS welcomes the Premier’s announcement of a Renewable Energy Dividend which will provide Tasmanians with energy bill relief when Hydro’s profits exceeds $100 million.
- With the number of Tasmanians in energy hardship and seeking support to pay their bills on the rise, the announcement of Renewable Energy Dividend credit on their energy bills is welcome news.
- The number of Tasmanian households with an energy debt (14,000) has increased by 27% with an average debt of more than $1,000 per household.
- We urge the Tasmanian Government to take further action on energy bill relief by capping electricity prices to protect Tasmanian customers from price volatility in the National Electricity Market (NEM). A cap on electricity prices has been done before by this Government in 2018 and we know it works.
- Capping electricity prices must be part of a broader strategy to combat rising energy costs. In the short-term, a review of the electricity concession scheme is also required to ensure it is well targeted and appropriate.
- Equally, to bring down energy bills in the long-term the Government needs to look closely at investing in a program of household energy efficiency initiatives to support low income and rental households.
Please also see Wellbeing First which features a chapter on ‘Bringing down energy costs” and proposes a number of key recommendations which will support households with their energy bills.
