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Our Socialist Electricity Grid works perfectly for everyone except consumers

What destroys a grid faster than than a socialist electricity system? A semi-socialist system that pretends to be a free market.

This hybrid monster combines the worst of both socialism and capitalism at the same time. Socialists get the power to destroy, then capitalists can use self serving interest to make it happen faster.

The socialist managers can pick loser options (wind and solar), rig the market, and also conveniently blame the market when things go wrong. In a pure socialist system, at least the public know who created the mess.

What socialism created — socialism can partly solve

In a free market Liddell’s cheap coal power would not be closing in 2022.  Since we have no free market, and can’t suddenly create one, the only band-aid option is to buy the damn asset back:

Ron Boswell gets it:

If someone suggested that $3 billion in consumer-funded subsidies be paid to one energy source every year for the next 12 years, and if that one energy source was guaranteed significant market share for every one of those years, and if there were hundreds of millions of dollars available in grants and concessional loans to projects limited to that one energy source, would that policy approach qualify as a technology-neutral?

The millstone around the neck of Australia’s energy policy is the renewable energy target. It is a remarkably generous gift to wind and solar energy, and one that will keep on giving until 2030. It is impossible to debate energy policy sensibly without reference to the gold-plated pipeline of tens of billions of dollars of consumer and taxpayer-funded subsidies to the renewable sector.

Socialists cry “socialism” to stop government buying up coal asset (where were they when the government started forcing us to buy wind power?). Ron Boswell again:

Some have likened the option to socialism. Rubbish. The energy market was socialised by intervention a long time ago. A $45bn subsidy and guaranteed market share for renewables is not socialism? Would the car market be a real market if the government said 23 per cent of cars sold had to be a Tesla and that Tesla would receive a subsidy of $30,000 for every car sold?

In other fake news today Josh Socialist Frydenberg says he has “gained support” for the NEG (National Energy Grab) from the states. What he has achieved is that they all agree to meet again in four months and decide the hard stuff then.

RHIAN DEUTROM

The government’s cornerstone energy policy has passed its latest hurdle, with a commitment from states and territories to continue detailed design work. It gives ministers who identified concerns with aspects of the National Energy Guarantee a four month reprieve to push for changes before the federal government’s deadline for a decision in August.

So we get the “shock” result that no state in Australia wanted to secede, and State Ministers are happy to keep attending meetings.

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