Aussie PM to meet energy cos to discuss gas price cap
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese will meet the oil and gas industry this week to discuss the government’s plan to cap gas prices for a year, he told ACB Radio on December 12.
“I'll meet with them when we meet with them, this week,” the prime minister said. “But we've met with them before. They've met with the treasurer prior to this agreement being made with the states and territories, they've met with the energy minister, they've met with the resources minister. We'll continue to meet with them. I spoke with some of the companies involved in Appea over the weekend.”
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Australia’s peak oil and gas body Appea has sought a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the issue.
Appea in a statement said that it has asked for a meeting after “more concerning details” of the government’s dismantling of the gas market across the whole of Australia emerged over the weekend.
“A consultation paper and exposure draft of legislation released late Friday reveals the government’s intervention is far more extensive than it announced earlier in the day, with extraordinary new powers to control the market on both the east and west coast and damage investment confidence across the entire energy market,” Appea said.
The Australian government December 9 said gas prices will be capped at A$12/gigajoule (GJ) for 12 months, with the government to contribute to costs. The government will establish an energy bill relief fund with up to A$1.5bn to deliver relief directly to electricity bills.
Appea said that government measures include regulating gas prices permanently under its mandatory code of conduct, “despite the government painting its $12/GJ price cap as a temporary, short-term measure.”
Appea CEO Samantha McCulloch said the interventions would devastate investment, reduce new supply and push up household and business gas prices.
“The oil and gas industry welcomes relief from energy prices through the proposed energy rebates but a price cap combined with the emergence of other damaging measures will ultimately push up prices because they will undermine investment confidence and reduce new supply,” she said.
“The government said it was introducing a temporary price cap – but now we learn those caps can be extended and its mandatory code of conduct will have the ongoing power to regulate prices permanently,” McCulloch added. “The powers provided through the bill are extraordinary, providing for the Government to control the entirety of the market and intervene in an essentially unlimited way.”
The Australian parliament will hold a special session on December 15 to vote on the plan to cap gas prices.