It only takes a moment and it does help. It’s easy to be cynical. But in the world of psychology and politics, petitions prove there really are a lot of people who feel the same way. Sometimes these are the only numbers a politician will pay attention to (though we may wish it were otherwise). — Jo
___________________
Sign the Petition
Demand Affordable Energy Now
Government renewable mandates and future targets are driving up cost astronomically on Australian families and businesses. Australia energy cost are the highest in the world. Now the government wants more restrictions due to the Paris Climate Accord. It’s time to cut energy prices and get Australia out of the Paris Climate Accord! We need more free market solutions to our energy and remove government mandates to energy!
Sign the petition below to demand affordable energy solutions now!
The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance is a unique grassroots advocacy & activist organisation, dedicated to standing up for hardworking Australian taxpayers.
We oppose high taxes, wasteful spending, and crippling red tape that is hurting Aussie families and businesses, and provide a voice for everyone who opposes the big-government agenda.
———–
PS: Edited to temporarily swap ATA image to correct flag position. Australian flag from Bob Linsdell on Wikimedia. — Jo
.jpg){kind=link}
Done.
130
I’d sign myself, but I’m not Australian. I did my part on this by voting for Trump and the resulting tsunami seems to be just off the Aussie coast …
90
Back to coal-fired energy please!
212
Please leave any arrangement with the so-called Paris accord and return to a sensible energy policy . Ignore any future IPPC pronouncements regarding climate change or any other socialist agenda .
160
Coal. Mmmm.
Of course I’ll sign for my very favourite mineral!
151
Coal is my favourite mineral*, after uraninite (pitchblende).
*Incidentally, coal is now considered a sedimentary rock rather than a mineral.
102
Coal is a diamond in the making
if we use it now we’re partaking
of riches beyond the faking
of wind and solar hype
Whether it’s fossil fuel or nuclear fusion,
we’re guaranteed an energy solution
on the other hand, the renewable collusion
gives us nothing but energy fright
71
To be honest, petitions like this do nothing. They are put in the trash as they are akin to chain letters that are all too easy to forge. They have no validity whatsoever. You might as well have a Twitter campaign, something that our Glorious Leader follows all the time.
100
To be honest, sitting, complaining, and twiddling your thumbs do even less. With a petition you at least find like minded people to work with to work for the future. It is NOT the government you are actually trying to reach by working a petition drive, it is the people. And in that process you can remind the people that in the end, THEY are the government, and can change it to what they want. I would gladly sign a petition for Australia, I have friends there, but I don’t live there. Good country if it would only start thinking of Australians and not willingly follow the so called “leaders of the west.” You have the potential of a great future, but it comes down to the people, not the government, that is going to make that future or not. Good luck, Jo, with the petition.
110
I signed…
BUT… I note some of the fields default to USA style responses??? e.g. 5 figure post code and (555) telephone numbers.
61
USA 555 prefix phone numbers used to be reserved as fictional numbers in movies but even though some still are (555-0100 through 555-0199), many of them are legitimate numbers and the 555 area code is mapped (overlayed) to 800 type numbers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)
31
And once everyone has registered their email address, expect comforting emails from the ATA and whoever else gets the details.
50
You did not need to fill that in.
30
ATA already has my e-mail, frankly they don’t send a lot and usually what they do send is relevant. You’ll get donation requests from time to time, but then again I get those from Surf Lifesaving more often than ATA.
40
I signed but I also wrote to Josh pointing out the idiocy of the current policies and how ineffective the expensive turbines are. I do not expect an answer but there is little more an individual can do. If sufficient people sign the ATA can approach the Minister on our behalf. Josh is skating on thin ice in his own electorate and much as I detest the Greens the next election could see Josh out and some scumbag greenie in. A change of policy and a real saving, not 50cents a week in ten years, could save his seat when the alternative is even higher bills. So sign the petition and send Josh a message as well.
90
It’s interesting that we don’t expect a reply from our politicians, isn’t it.
I mean . . we’re paying their wages whether we voted for them or not.
Just as interesting is that they think ignoring us is OK.
40
An intelligent analysis of electricity prices would not result in the patently absurd assertion that, “Government renewable mandates and future targets are driving up cost astronomically”.
As the AFR graphically depicted, Australian electricity retailers are gouging us with profit margins 320% higher than, for example, they do in the UK:
Government renewable mandates and future targets are driving up cost astronomically
The breakdown of charges goes something like this:
8c – The generator (they actually produce it)
15c – the network (they manage vast amounts of infrastructure that gets it to us)
12c – the retailer (they do nothing except maintain a database of customers and mail out the bills)
Meanwhile, what do the government green levies add up to?
Less than 2c.
The real causes of high prices are:
– the confected gas supply crisis, because large multinationals prefer to sell our gas cheap to foreigners
– the privatisation of the networks
– the blatant gouging by the retailers, who add virtually nothing of value to the process of providing electricity to the Australian consumer.
This petition appears to be designed by somebody who wants to cover-up and perpetuate this blatantly treasonous rip-off of the Australian People.
734
One villain at a time. We start with the carpetbaggers behind peashooter energy “solutions” and the manipulation of real costs into pretend savings.
When we are again using our full resources to best effect – talkin’ mainly ’bout that wonderful black coal of the Sydney-Gunnedah-Bowen Basins – we should indeed consider reservation of critical national resources. (This is something best done without a Liberal leader who has worked for a major investment bank or a Labor leader who is going to work for a major investment bank. If someone like the IMF protests we can threaten to reveal the carbon footprint of Christine Lagarde’s tan.)
100
Craig,
1.)The 8c from the generation includes items such as: transfer funding from cheap coal to inept renewables in such a way that coal with a little gas and hydro which performed well are giving way to a lot of gas with some renewballs and a lot of hydro and battery which we don’t have or needed previously.
2.) The 15c network includes what is passed off as the Keynesian “gold plating” spending with mandated 10% returns but these expenditures are required for increased distributed chaotic supply-…so, again renewballs increase the cost.
3.) The retailer’s 12c now has to pay domestic solar electricity suppliers amounts often in excess of the wholesale price for insignificant amounts. It must adjust billing, involve more instrumentation and customer interaction for erratic non-dispatchable supply which is actually next to worthless but it must pander to the bureaucracy and politics.
Now tell me again how this is not due to renewballs mandates. You interpret the data in a most gullible manner without any sense of logic.
231
I’m very interested in what your expansion, Rob, but I’m hoping you or someone else (Jo perhaps?) might provide more detail in more portable sentences. Also, terms like “Keynesian “gold plating” spending” aren’t really explanatory here, even after Googling them.
I believe an understandable breakdown of what is going on with our electricity prices is absolutely necessary. There is too much global coincidence with renewables and rocketing power prices, but the public seems unable to join the dots. Ditto the politicians. The true costs of the renewables are almost certainly being hidden and will no doubt be difficult to uncover.
10
I can’t really comment on the way electricity is distributed in Australia, because I have never had to look at it in detail.
But Craig says “… the retailer(they do nothing except maintain a database of customers and mail out the bills)”
Is the retailer not responsible for local (i.e. street level) distribution, in Australia? Are they not the first level of support if there are any distribution faults?
I am not saying that Craig is wrong. I am merely investigating the Australian way of doing things, compared to other countries where I have had some experience.
70
Essentially Craig is right, the retailer just manages customers, then there are other organisations for HV Transmission and Distribution except in WA which is still vertically integrated (but Ironically still has sky high tariffs).
On the other hand RobK is also accurate, that 12C from paying customers has to pay for some of the feed-in tariff from the rooftop solar larger entities get to charge their FiT to Networks, the 8c does not buy LGCs/STCs the retailer pays that bit too. Networks buy energy from the generators so they have to pay for expensive intermittent energy as well as the cheap coal stuff. All Up around at least a third of the bill (9c) is driven by renewabubbles. Your Bill could be 18c per kWh instead of 27c per kWh without this crazy scheme in the mix.
100
Craig, and by some totally irrelevant coincidence all countries with a lot of wind power also have expensive energy. How unfair!
Ever consider that the intermittency of wind and solar provides a lot more volatility for the gamesters to game the system?
The cold hard truth is Hazelwood produced $30/MWhr at wholesale. 3c/Kwhr. With more coal or nukes the East Coast wouldn’t have cared about high gas prices.
282
What about all the other costs that are hidden elsewhere. What percentage of all this nonsense makes it onto the electricity bill? Who pays for those curly self detonating mercury shrapnel bombs that make a room darker when you turn them on, hope then go get imported energy in a dry cell torch?
Who pays in floods and drought because hydro dams were the first stage of the attack on energy?
Who pays in planning for weather and climate that never goes according to the prophesies? Who pays for all the green schemes that go bankrupt? It goes on and on the electric bill is just a small part of this evil monster.
30
Craig, you forgot to include the cost of 8.0c/kw to the networks for the compulsory purchase from renewable producers of LGC’s as part of the RET.
193
“An intelligent analysis of electricity prices”
Ah… so I will look at someone else’s comment
No intelligence expected in any comment from you, CT.
84
Oh, my AFR link:
http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/u/x/8/i/8/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620×0.png/1489407576208.png
And another one from the AFR about how we’re being sold out by ouir politicians:
http://www.afr.com/news/australian-households-pay-highest-power-prices-in-world-20170804-gxp58a
417
Good comments Craig, how about cutting and pasting some of the AFR link contents for us non-subscribers.
61
Rollo,
What is good about Craig’s comments?
I will admit there is some Truth in them, but mainly it is designed to obscure the real underlying problem, which is:
Craig could respond to this; “8c – The generator (they actually produce it)”!
Is that the case for Wind Power? What are the wind power producers actually paid? What is the cost of backing up their power when the wind drops?
121
Peter C, It’s true that because of the RET and the resultant LGCs windfarms earn a lot more from subsidies than they do from selling their electricity, but wind/solar is only a small percentage of the energy mix. As you say the need for quick acting gas generation is a requirement to stabilize useless renewables and this cost should be billed to solar and wind farms.
As Craig says we are being gouged by excessive numbers of useless retailers whose only purpose is to compete to send us a bill for a product they do not make. Australia will be the world’s biggest gas exporter in a few years yet we pay some of the highest prices in the world for what belongs to us. Our power generation is run by overseas interests who only care about the bottom line and our government seems powerless to control them.
100
And all that financial pain to consumers, Craig, because those renewables operators who produce 2.0% of Australias energy needs want 100% of our money.
112
Signed
41
‘The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand that holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.’
H/t Dylan Thomas.
Serfs in revolt – ‘course we’ll sign , Jo,
put our x’s on the protest petition.
80
HI Beth,
I think we are neighbors. Would you like to catch up over a cup of coffee in the New Year?
30
Okay with me, Peter. )
20
Great,
After New Year. Is East Ivanbhoe convenient?
10
Being a party to the Paris Climate Accord just means the Govt. intends to give taxpayer’s money to the UN where that money disappears into its “Filthy Maw.”
I don’t think it has much to do with your cost of electric power.
But never mind. I’d sign but I don’t live there, have never been there, and likely will never get there. Not that I don’t want to!
100
Ok,
I signed.
I was expecting a bit more information. Is this the full wording of the petition:
I was expecting something a little more verbose, Such as “We the undersigned petioners humbly pray…”
Also no mention of the Greenhouse theory scam nor COAL.
Nor did I get a link to the petition results. Lift your game ATA!
80
20 Dec: SMH: ‘Disappointed’ coal lobby group delivers a rebuke to BHP
by Darren Gray
The World Coal Association has hit back at mining giant BHP, saying the miner inaccurately depicted the views of the association on climate and energy policy in a BHP report released this week…
In a written statement released on Tuesday night the chairman of the WCA, Mick Buffier, hit back at BHP.
“Naturally we are disappointed at the outcome of the review, we do not feel that the report accurately reflects the views of the WCA.
“The WCA has always supported a balanced approach that integrates climate and energy policy; working towards a low emission future for coal,” he said.
“A visit to the WCA website will find the first item listed as ‘A pathway to zero emissions from coal, supporting the deployment of all low emission technologies’. We hope to be able to continue working with BHP on this basis in the future,” he said…
The move by the major miner to signal a willingness to depart the World Coal Association comes despite the BHP report itemising only one material difference between itself and the coal lobby group on climate and energy policy.
BHP’s report noted more “material differences” between itself and two other lobby groups. The report cited two differences with the Minerals Council of Australia, and four differences with the United States Chamber of Commerce.
BHP would not respond on Wednesday to the criticisms made by the World Coal Association…
http://www.smh.com.au/business/coal-lobby-group-delivers-a-rebuke-to-bhp-20171220-p4yxwy.html
30
It would be much more to the point if the wimps in the coal industry finally bit the bullet and called out the colossal scam that the whole climate catastrophe really is.
When are our supposedly intelligent intelligentsia going to show some?
20
9 Dec: Reuters: EU governments agree renewable energy targets for 2030
by Robert-Jan Bartunek
Ministers said they would aim to source at least 27 percent of the bloc’s energy from renewables by 2030, up from a target of 20 percent by 2020.
In October, the European Parliament called for this target to be increased to 35 percent, a level also put forward by a group of big technology, industry and power companies last week…
As part of the package of measures, ministers also agreed on the share of renewable fuels to be used in transport, while setting a cap on first-generation biofuels, which critics say compete for agricultural land with food.
The inclusion of rail into the renewable transport targets was criticized by the European Commission, as large parts of the European rail network are already electrified.
“The level of ambition is clearly insufficient,” Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told ministers during negotiations.
Canete added that with falling prices for renewables, the EU could reach a target of 30 percent of renewables with similar costs as had been previously estimated for the 27 percent.
“The reduction of costs in renewables has been spectacular, whether it is in solar energy or wind power,” Canete told a press conference after the meeting.
The European Council and the European Parliament will need to find a compromise in talks over the final legal texts on these matters next year…
Ministers also reached a common position on a set of rules for the internal electricity market, such as the roll-out of more sophisticated electricity meters to consumers and allowing grid operators to run energy storage facilities…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/eu-electricity-climatechange/update-1-eu-governments-agree-renewable-energy-targets-for-2030-idUKL8N1OI5MY
20
Hopefully there is an avalanche of signatures – I signed. If only the masses in Oz realized how bad escalating prices are not only for their hip pocket but also for the nation’s future prosperity.
70
The pressure from the elites to destroy Australia’s economy is much greater on Australia now that Donald Trump is in charge in America as the elites have lost Obama as their puppet. They have gained Trudeau in Canada and Turnbull in Australia, however, even though both countries together represent only about two Californias worth of economic power. This contributes to their war against Western Civilisation.
142
Trump is showing us the way forward. America seems to be turning the corner.
Must we go down with the EU and Canada? I fervently hope not!
111
I am afraid Peter C Oz is doomed – sabotaged by “leftie doctrine”. We are following the EU done the path to “economic self destruction”, ie high youth unemployment being the first symptom – it is happening right now – just ask recent uni graduates how difficult it is getting a job,let alone an interview. Here in Perth I am hearing the cries of frustration loud & clear. Do we want Oz to end up like Italy, Greece, Spain & Portugal where youth unemployment ranges between 35-45%? – a nightmare scenario.
101
Unfortunately, more socialism/communism won’t solve the problem.
30
We are seeing no real signs of a Trump-like retaliation against the global warming hoax here in Australia. In fact we are even more committed to go down the renewables road than the EU, and certainly more so than Asian countries. For starters, they are all building nuclear and/or new generation coal fired power stations to augment their expansion into renewables. We are not doing that. We are just implementing more and more renwables while at the same time we are shutting down our coal fired power stations with no view to replace them. The EU are actually doing the right thing – we are not. We are heading in the opposite direction, and if we continue it will be over the cliff. Our only hope is that we get some major hits on our grid that will wake up the politicians and make them realize they have been conned and so change direction, or acted with utter contempt and exposed as such leaving the public screaming for their resignations. Of course there’s still the possibility that the public are so aloof they will not react, allowing the nation to go over the cliff.
60
20 Dec: SMH: Electricity market in intensive care, but improvement coming
by Cole Latimer
The National Electricity Market is in bad health and wholesale change is needed, but recovery is on the horizon.
A new Energy Security Board report has found electricity prices have increased by around 80 to 90 per cent in real terms over the last decade, and ‘bill shock’ is hitting both residential and business customers.
It called for widespread change in the energy market, supported by strong policy, to ensure the NEM can transition to a new energy future driven in part by increased renewables.
“The pattern of the transmission grid in the NEM must change,” the report said.
“The grid was designed in the last century to run from large coal-fired generators to the load in the cities. It must now be reconfigured so that it runs from renewable energy zones to the cities.”
The ESB outlined the National Energy Guarantee as one of the important developments in the sector but noted that it is not a panacea for all of the electricity sector’s woes…
“The report finds the NEM faces numerous challenges as it goes through its greatest change since its development in the 1990s, including a tight supply-demand balance, a marked changed in the generation mix towards intermittent sources and rapid technological change,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“The ESB finds while there is much work to be done, the situation is improving as a result of measures put in place by the Turnbull Government, the COAG Energy Council and the energy market bodies.”…
The NSW energy taskforce also released a report this week, urging the states to build their own clean energy targets…
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/nem-in-intensive-care-but-improvement-coming-20171219-p4yxws.html
background Energy Security Board:
Press Conference with the Minister for the Environment and Energy and Members of the Energy Security Board
Transcript 17 Oct 2017 Parliament House, Canberra
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much. The Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and I are here today with members of the Energy Security Board – the Chair, Kerry Schott, the Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator, Audrey Zibelman, the Chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission, John Pierce, and the Chair of the Australian Energy Regulator, Paula Conboy…
AUDREY ZIBELMAN – CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR:
Thank you, Prime Minister.
So the issue that AEMO is most concerned about, of course, is keeping the lights on and what we’ve discovered through our experience in South Australia is when you get to certain levels of renewable intermittent generation, the system itself becomes less stable and absent a mechanism like this where there’s contracted dispatchable power that’s coming into the system, AEMO is finding itself in the position that we actually have to direct generators to come online to provide that stability at the spot price, which is quite expensive.
So what we like about this mechanism is it actually signals what the system needs which is that we need a portfolio of resources that meet all of the objectives of policy – affordability, the environmental objectives and the reliability objectives.
And it’s the reliability objectives which are certainly the physics of the system that we could just never ignore…
JOURNALIST:
To add to the answer that you were giving, how often are you having to intervene in South Australia’s market to keep it stable?
AUDREY ZIBELMAN:
Well, recently, we’ve been intervening quite a bit. And that’s because we’re at a period of time in the system where particularly on weekends, we’re seeing very low levels of usage because of the level of photovoltaics and a lot of wind energy. So we’re actually intervening to put on gas energy to maintain the stability of the system…
JOURNALIST:
Has anyone in this process considered what the mix of renewables, intermittent renewables might look like in 2030 in order to meet those emission reduction targets?
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY:
Yes, the advice from the AMC, the early analysis is that the renewables will be around 28 to 36 per cent and of that, the intermittency, which is the wind and the solar would be 18 to 24 per cent.
This is important. Not all renewables are the same.
Hydropower is baseload power. It is dispatchable power.
Wind and solar need battery storage or pumped hydro in order to have that level of dispatchability.
This is extremely important to understand…
JOURNALIST:
Having that level of intermittent renewables doesn’t seem palatable to some opposition parties – Labor?…
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-minister-environment-and-energy-and-members-energy-security-board
10
(my bolding here)
Power consumed just by Sydney alone is around 15TWH
The current amount of power delivered by EVERY wind plant combined in the whole of Australia is 11TWH.
Sydney requires its power for 24 hours of every day at a set amount, not some days high some days low, and who knows when that is.
That’s just for Sydney alone.
Good luck with that!
Tony.
50
Tony, Tony, proof read before hitting Post Comment:
That should be ….. 25TWH.
Actually, it’s probably closer to 30TWH.
Tony.
100
That’s why I keep saying we need an edit feature on this forum. Virtually all other forums and blog sites have an edit and delete feature.
20
Australians could have their reward,
To withdraw from the Paris Accord,
And start solving the crisis,
Of high energy prices,
Through petitions which show their concord.
100
Beautiful, Ruairi. I found it ironic that your last line says:
“Through petitions which show their concord.”
There’s actually a double entendre in that word, ‘concord’. If you know any of the history of the U.S. War for Independence (from the U.K.), you may know that the first skirmish of the war is considered to have started at two Massachusetts settlements, Lexington and Concord. Depending on your point of view, one could say that those two opening gambits worked out pretty well for the Patriots (‘revolutionaries’) who rebelled against King George III.
As have others, I will ask, are you keeping a volume of all of your limericks, for eventual publishing? Each is a gem, but as a compendium, they would be a significant contribution to the history of CAGW-hoax.
My sincere regards to all, best wishes for the holiday season, and a very Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year,
The Mostest Deplorablest Vlad the Impalerest, a crushingest bore-est and an even biggerest bully-est (according to C.T.)
50
Though I was not aware of the place called Concord, I appreciate your comment, which helps drive me to keep adding to the long list of limericks.
30
Concord is also the state capitol of New Hampshire, which is a very small state, but with out-sized political influence because of it’s early position in the primary system of voting which selects party candidates.
20
Hi Mickey,
Yes, there is a “Concord, New Hampshire”, which is the state capitol, however, I was referring to a community about 15 – 18 kilometres NW of Boston, near state highway 2 and Interstate 95. There is a “Minute Man Historical Park” near the location that the first skirmish of the Revolutionary (“War for Independence”) was thought to have occurred (based on existing historical documentation). According to the history I have seen on the subject, there was something of a running battle from Concord, towards Lexington (also the name of a US carrier, sunk in WWII [Battle of the Coral Sea, I believe]), and as the U. K. troops approached Boston and their base of operations, the Minute Men (“militia”) broke off the engagement.
If memory serves, there is also a Concord, California, and without a doubt, other communities around the US named “Concord”, of which I am unaware.
The Yorktown, a carrier sunk at the Battle of Midway, was named for the “last” battle of the War, where Cornwallis was forced to surrender, and withdraw U.K. troops from the Colonies.
Regards to all,
Vlad
10
Hands across the world to stop and reverse the great “green” hoax.
31
I have signed it but since Turnbull has come in, we have just gone downhill. Nothing will change until he is replaced.
70
Australia needs to be out of the Paris Climate Accord that will achieve nothing in terms of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels or global temperature. What the accord is already achieving is the transfer of money from poor people in developed countries to wealthy people in developing countries whilst driving up the cost of electricity for all Australians.
61
Could not agree more John,
But it is not going to happen until the people become more engaged in the Energy Debate and the AGW debate.
For far Jo’s post has resulted in about 400 signatures on the petition, which is close to zero response.
Did you sign?
30
Please Jo, can you just remove the Australian Flag from the banner if it is not possible to ‘fly’ it correctly.
10
maman — well spotted. This image is from the ATA, but I’m sure they would rather get that right! I shall talk to them.
10
All fixed now Maman, and on the ATA site too. Well spotted. Thank you.
10
As An Australian citizen living in South America where we are the largest producers of hydroelectric power and electricity exporters in the world and only pay 20AUD/month, I could not fanthom going back but I will vote for the petition, anyway good luck
20