Electricity Prices

The situation at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors seems to be improving, but the long-term fallout remains unclear. The Punch spoke to Associate Professor Haydon Manning - head of politics and public policy at Flinders University and a man with a particular interest in nuclear power - and asked him what it means for the political future of nuclear.

Cartoon: Warren Brown

What’s the history of nuclear fear in Australia?

In the Australian community we’ve never had to confront the stark reality - like the French, the Japanese and South Korea have - of real energy shortage. Given our abundance of coal and gas we’ve never had to focus on any of the positive arguments for nuclear power as the answer to a problem or energy security.

Rather, we associated nuclear power with weapons. This is certainly true of someone like me, who as a student marched on the streets in opposition to Olympic Dam in the late 70s. Then in 1979 we had the ‘icing on the anti nuclear cake’ when Three Mile Island had its minor meltdown.

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  • DaveinPerth says:

    12:49am | 25/03/11

    @Severino - “How long does it take to build one of these you beaut Thorium reactors?” Up until I learned about China’s decision to go with the LFTR (see post at base of page), my best hope was for 10 to 15 fifteen years to go through the development /… Read more »

  • Severino says:

    07:16pm | 24/03/11

    So these reactors you want to propagate throughout Australia don’t exist? Tell me DiP it takes at least 15 years to build a nuclear reactor. How long does it take to build one of these you beaut Thorium reactors? Read more »

 

A utilities representative recently came to my front door offering a better deal on our gas and electricity prices if we changed to a different supplier. He was offering a larger discount than the existing supplier.

I owe them how much?

The visit prompted me to look back at the cost of electricity over the past few years. The results were startling. Last year, the costs were more than 50 per cent higher than five years ago. Our usage was about the same.

The price increases are being felt by households across Australia.  According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, power bills increased by 50 per cent. In the same period, total expenses only increased by 16 per cent. Since Labor has been in government, the prices have risen by more than 42 per cent.

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  • Dallas Beaufort says:

    05:42pm | 04/11/10

    Kevin, I know the federal government may have no control over green labor states when affordable housing is the main cost concern. Most of the posts here go on about utility prices and blame the the liberals for basically, not having more money to spend, but it is labor and… Read more »

  • MarK says:

    07:11am | 04/11/10

    Really pers you are slipping. Pathetic attempt. “So sad that, after using lots of big bits and paper and really big crayons, you guys still haven’t grasped how the ETS is meant to work.” Yeh we have. “Even sadder, when you think that it was Liberal party policy.” Fantastic!!! We… Read more »

 

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