Yes, Australian energy has reached such epic proportions of stupidity. Via the AFR:
BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has been assured that power costs will come down in South Australia by new Premier Steven Marshall, amid number-crunching on a potential $2.7 billion-plus expansion of the Olympic Dam mine.
…Mr Marshall said after the meeting with Mr Mackenzie that he had re-inforced that the new government was vehemently pro-business.
…”The Liberal Government will make sure that we have reliable and affordable energy and this is a high priority for the incoming government”.
That’s very nice of it. Perhaps while it is at it the SA Government might inquire of BHP why its Bass Strait gas venture with Exxon Mobil – the Gippsland JV – has been making offers into the east coast gas market that according to the ACCC are “not very customer friendly”. That is, gouging the shit out of it:
After all, it is the gas price that sets the marginal cost of electricity in the National Electricity Market that supplies power to Olympic Dam.
Or would such a question not be “vehemently pro-business”?
