Energy ministers meet as consumers demand fairer share

Federal, state and territory governments are being urged to do more for consumers as they meet to thrash out the next phase of overhauling the electricity market.

Energy and climate ministers are meeting in Melbourne on Friday, with stubborn cost-of-living pressures and energy reliability concerns behind a push for consumers to get more out of their rooftop solar, electric vehicles and appliances.

The electrification of households and cars could deliver hundreds of billions to consumers over the next 20 years if markets were opened up to consumer-owned energy resources, says grassroots organisation Rewiring Australia’s executive director Dan Cass.

“The question for energy ministers is whether the massive electrification dividend will flow to consumers or be captured by incumbent energy companies who want to centralise, gold-plate and delay,” he said.

A taxpayer-funded Capacity Investment Scheme has been beefed up to kickstart investment and drive power prices down over the long term.

The scheme would support $74 billion of new clean energy investment over the next three to six years, federal energy department deputy secretary Simon Duggan said in a keynote speech to industry on Tuesday.

Almost half of the scheme’s total 32 gigawatts of capacity would be tendered in 2024, and projects that could generate by 2028 would be top of the pile, Mr Duggan said.

However, it was “non-market enablers” that would be on the agenda for ministers on Friday, he said, as operators grapple with connecting millions of consumer-owned energy assets and the needs of new industries.

Rooftop solar and home batteries, hot water systems, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home charging will feature in a consumer energy roadmap that Energy Minister Chris Bowen will present to state and territory counterparts.

But opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said the meeting was the “final test” for the Labor government to get more gas into the system to stop blackouts, because the nation would fall short of 82 per cent renewables by 2030.