The State Liberals have warned South Australian households and business not to expect any price relief on their electricity bills as a result of the woefully inadequate measures announced by the Premier today.

“Having driven South Australia’s cheapest generator out of business and in the process driven up the price of electricity the Premier is now forced to spend $24 million to supply gas to the local market,” said State Liberal Leader Steven Marshall.

“These half-baked proposals are indicative of a panicked government that has no idea to fix the mess it has created.

“Gas fired electricity is more expensive than what was being produced by the Northern power station hence South Australian taxpayers are $24 million out of pocket to have access to more expensive electricity thanks to the Weatherill Government’s incompetence.

“As for using Government procurement of electricity to drive competition, not so long ago the Weatherill Government was promising to procure 100 per cent of its electricity from sustainable sources.

“The Weatherill Government abandoned that plan when it belatedly realised that would be too expensive. Such is the quality of its understanding of the electricity market.

“The final promise to argue for a carbon tax at the national level is simply laughable.

“The Australian people have rejected a carbon tax precisely because it drove up the price of electricity, yet Jay Weatherill is proposing a carbon tax to drive down the price of electricity.

“The Liberal Party have released a raft of well-considered proposals to limit the damage of Labor’s reckless energy policies.

“The Labor Party is clueless as to how to drive down electricity prices in South Australia.”