| A senior Labor figure is urging a carbon price on electricity to lower household bills by kickstarting investment in new-generation power plants. Former state energy minister Patrick Conlon, writing in today’s Advertiser, warns Australian electricity consumers are at the mercy of big, old, dirty and cheap coal-fired power plants and failure to impose a carbon price is thwarting new investment.
“Reliance on old, under-maintained coal burners flirts with disaster. If a couple of big units break down during a hot, high-demand summer, price hikes will obliterate any benefit of cheap coal,” writes Mr Conlon, energy minister from 2002 to 2011. “In that scenario you could see rolling blackouts and gas plants restarted at massive prices.”..............................................Full Article: Source
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