Industry groups have issued fresh warnings highlighting how high electricity prices are hurting South Australian businesses.

Manufacturing Australia Chairman Mark Chellew today said:

“The lack of stability and high power prices in SA are threatening both existing and future manufacturing investment in a state already reeling from automotive closures…The more expensive and unstable our energy system, the more difficult it is to make the economic case for building new manufacturing plants, or making necessary reinvestment in existing plants.”                                                                                    (The Advertiser, 12/10/2016)

 

Previously, BankSA’s Trends economic bulletin also raised concerns about both the cost and reliability of the electricity system in South Australia:

“…South Australia runs some of the risks around electricity supplies and prices that have recently been evident in Tasmania. In effect, the state’s energy security may prove to be at risk of vulnerability as greater variable renewable energy, combined with mothballing of traditional generation capacity, place strain on the state’s electricity infrastructure.”

(BankSA’s Trends, May 2016, p13)

 

“South Australia has the most expensive and least reliable electricity network in Australia and it is clear that this is hurting businesses,” said State Liberal Leader Steven Marshall.

“Energy intensive businesses cannot tolerate such high electricity prices for any extended period of time.

“However, the instability of South Australia’s electricity network that we witnessed recently is also detrimental to businesses, including already established businesses and those looking to invest in our State.

“South Australia’s high electricity prices hurt households and reduce business viability which reduces employment throughout our State.

“The Weatherill Government’s failed energy policies have driven up the cost of generating electricity and left the system vulnerable to blackouts.

“The detrimental flow on effects of the massive jump in South Australia’s electricity prices will be felt in household budgets and jobs growth for years to come.”