Today’s announcement of the Queensland Energy Roadmap rewrites the state’s energy policy to the detriment of Queensland consumers and industry, according to the Smart Energy Council.
“This energy roadmap will increase Queensland consumers’ energy bills, and will damage the national capacity to respond to climate change for decades to come,” Chief Executive John Grimes said.
“Make no mistake, when coal and gas win, consumers pay.”
“Ageing coal fired generation, and expensive gas generation, are unreliable and costly.”
“There is nothing cheap, or clean, about coal and gas.”
“Queenslanders already know what the lowest-cost forms of energy are, with the highest uptake rates of solar PV in the world.”
Queenslanders now face the prospect of being locked into the highest cost, most polluting sources of energy generation, with taxpayers to fund an Energy Roadmap that charts a course to more gas production and infrastructure, and the propping up of unreliable coal.
The energy plan ignores clear signals from investors, industry and consumers of the desire for cheaper, cleaner energy sources.
“Queenslanders take up of solar PV and batteries at record levels, and the pushback from global players such as Rio Tinto, show this is the wrong path for Queensland, and Australia. This is a rear vision roadmap of where we’ve been, not where we must go,” Mr Grimes said.
Media contact: Tim Lamacraft – tim@smartenergy.org.au – 0448 972 192
