Liddell shuts, power prices spike

Why is it the job of all politicians to say the complete opposite of what is actually happening?

NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe has indicated the Eraring power station might have to stay open beyond 2025 to keep the lights on, while insisting the closure of AGL’s Liddell power station this month will not push prices higher.

Liddell station in the Hunter Valley will be shut progressively this month after 50 years in operation.

I’m sorry, but wholesale power prices have spiked right on cue:

And futures have risen materially as well:

These prices will mean another round of (less large) utility bill rises in 2024.

Hence the lies, I guess.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.