Australia is thrashing around in preparation for some sort of Carbon trading/tax/fairytale scheme. Gillard promised a Labor government would not push through in this term with such a scheme, but having been forced into (effectively) a coalition with the Greens and Country Independents, all bets are off.
Numbers between $600 and $1,100 per year are thrown around in the article below based on $30 or $40 a tonne Carbon Tax and the question of including Petrol. There is much talk of offset payments, but even if those are a lump sum, efficient appliance grants and a rise to the rate of Pensions, Unemployment Benefit, Youth Allowance and AustStudy, they are unlikely to maintain even the poorest Australians at their current level.
Treasury releases carbon tax estimates
Privatization of electricity supply and generation has seen prices skyrocket, despite coal being cheaper and the private companies not spending money on maintenance. Profits to share holders are high and salaries to the bloated plutocrats are, of course, obscene. So compared to the increased efficiencies of privatization, the carbon tax will have a moderate impact on electricity prices, and even at 440/tonne is unlikely to push alternative energy investment mush faster than it is currently growing. At 1/3kg/kWh (1) $30/tonne is 10c/kWh is a large increase now (40% where I am, much less in less fortunate areas) but with prices predicted to double before years end, the impact will be lessened.
Currently distribution companies charge a premium for "green" power, but don't reduce your bill if they oversell and have to dig into the coal fired system to keep your lights burning. I wonder how that little money maker will go when the carbon price/tax comes in. They also pay quite poorly for co-generated power fed back to the grid from domestic photovoltaic systems.
I can say fairly certainly that the richest 1% of the worlds population will somehow be better off and I'll be able to afford meat less often.
No comments:
Post a Comment