Four in five Aussies demand energy price caps

The vile AFR is lying again for the gas cartel:

A price cap on gas would amount to a government subsidy of more than $20 a gigajoule, a report from EnergyQuest has concluded, as the federal Labor government finds itself increasingly wedged on how to deliver promised relief.

Wedged by whom? 80% of Aussies know what’s good for them and the other 20% probably live in WA where the policies are already in place:

Australians have strongly backed the idea of imposing price caps on energy companies to tackle the soaring cost of electricity and gas, with 79 per cent of voters in favour of the approach despite warnings from state premiers about the impact on their budgets.

The support for price controls is far greater than the popular backing for other ways to confront the crisis, with 51 per cent in favour of increasing taxes on energy exporters and 59 per cent in favour of taxpayer subsidies to help households on low incomes.

That’s not a “wedge” so much as it is tawdry AFR editorialising.

As for the price cap being a $20Gj “subsidy”. Very true! And that’s the point. Given the price today is $24Gj without the “subsidy”, if nothing is done then the cartel will immediately drive the price to $44Gj and power prices will skyrocket to $300-400MW/h, adding a cool 6% to the CPI.

This will send interest rates to 6%, mortgage rates to 9%, house prices down by half, and the economy into a depression; wealth and income transfer of unparalleled magnitude from every household and business east of WA to war-profiteering energy cartels and robber barons.

But, sure, let’s do it for the conflicted EnergyQuest so it can make a few pennies of said rent-seekers.

Thankfully, the states are softening their line.

QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made more sense:

“I think the prime minister wants to see a resolution that will have an impact on everybody, and as long as from where I’m standing, as long as Queensland is not worse off, I’m happy to go to that table at national cabinet with an open mind.”

Ms Palaszczuk indicated that the Queensland government has sought legal advice on possible price caps and other interventions, and potential compensation.

“It would be remiss of us not to do that,” she said.

When asked if state parliament could be recalled over interventions before the end of the year, the premier said: “I don’t envisage at the moment, but let’s see how the conversations go.”

As did the Perrottet Government:

“We need to see the detail of their plan to solve this national problem and to see their modelling about how we’ll keep our prices down. We haven’t seen anything yet,” Kean said.

He said he was not opposed to a price cap as long as the federal government provided compensation to ensure NSW taxpayers were no worse off due to lost royalties.

The country could not afford to play whack-a-mole with energy problems, he said, solving problems in one state only to have them emerge in another.

“Of course, we want to see downward pressure on electricity prices. We’re working with the Commonwealth, but we’re waiting on them to come up with the solution to what is a national problem,” Kean said.

Both NSW and QLD are coal-dependent, own the coal, and can impose the caps most cheaply and swiftly. A $100 per tonne cap to match the $12Gj for gas would be fine.

I don’t see why Albo can’t throw them a bone to subsiside lost royalties. Commodity prices are much higher than the budget forecast so far.

Richo reckons a deal will be done:

Albo is sick with COVID so the National Cabinet meeting to decide our fates is postponed to Friday.