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Do you accept that wholesale electricity prices in Australia can be wildly disconnected from residential retail prices? Do you accept I am an Australian reside

Do you accept that wholesale electricity prices in Australia can be wildly disconnected from residential retail prices? Do you accept I am an Australian resident retail customer telling you I am not seeing any change in my $/kWh price, nor any offers from my any providers offering lower prices and higher solar input price than the plan I’m on now. It doesn’t matter if wholesale prices are zero unless energy retailers are willing to compete to drive prices lower. And they’re not. It’s a regulated market here in Australia.

adrianN 8mo ago
If somebody comes up with a way to produce wheat cheaply, do you blame them for high bread prices?
- nandomrumber 8mo ago
  Energy retailers in Australia are literally just a billing interface and a poor excuse for a call centre. They’re not really adding value in the same way a farm & associated agribusiness > harvest > global storage and distribution > mill > commercial scale bakery > distribution > retail outlet does. This reminds me of an amusing comment I read or heard the other day: eggs are now more expensive than chickens. Somethings not right there. And it’s mostly higher costs of energy, and extremely stupid egg production regulations.
  - adrianN 8mo ago
    I fail to see how the blame is on renewable energy and how burning more fossil fuels would help in that situation.
    - nandomrumber 8mo ago
      The cost of coal and gas to the Australian market could effectively be covered by royalties collected from exporters of same. Australia could be a manufacturing powerhouse off the back of very steeply subsidised energy. China does it. But instead we seem to be bent on whatever the fuck this is supped to be? Energy so expensive ya can’t use it.
      - Retric 8mo ago
        > The cost of coal and gas to the Australian market could effectively be covered by royalties collected from exporters of same. Or you could do the same with Solar and have more money left over. Having a subsidy rarely works out well, but subsidizing an inefficient system is making two different mistakes.

adrianN 8mo ago

If somebody comes up with a way to produce wheat cheaply, do you blame them for high bread prices?

nandomrumber 8mo ago
Energy retailers in Australia are literally just a billing interface and a poor excuse for a call centre. They’re not really adding value in the same way a farm & associated agribusiness > harvest > global storage and distribution > mill > commercial scale bakery > distribution > retail outlet does. This reminds me of an amusing comment I read or heard the other day: eggs are now more expensive than chickens. Somethings not right there. And it’s mostly higher costs of energy, and extremely stupid egg production regulations.
- adrianN 8mo ago
  I fail to see how the blame is on renewable energy and how burning more fossil fuels would help in that situation.
  - nandomrumber 8mo ago
    The cost of coal and gas to the Australian market could effectively be covered by royalties collected from exporters of same. Australia could be a manufacturing powerhouse off the back of very steeply subsidised energy. China does it. But instead we seem to be bent on whatever the fuck this is supped to be? Energy so expensive ya can’t use it.
    - Retric 8mo ago
      > The cost of coal and gas to the Australian market could effectively be covered by royalties collected from exporters of same. Or you could do the same with Solar and have more money left over. Having a subsidy rarely works out well, but subsidizing an inefficient system is making two different mistakes.