Conversations at Parliament House: Will the sale of Western Power affect Horizon customers?

Written on the 16 November 2016 by Jael Napper

With the price of power recently revealed to be the highest rising cost to small businesses in Broome in the 15/16 financial year, what will happen to the North West in the event of Western Power's sale?

Currently Western Power customers subsidise Horizon with a $130million TEF (Tariff Equalisation Fund).

Terry Redman explains that Western Power is worth $13billion and the sale of 51% to Australian super funds could relieve the government of billions of dollars of debt with money left over to fund new state infrastructure.
He reassures that this sale would not drive up pricing nor terms of the TEF, "The Government sets the price of power this has always been the case and will continue to be the case regardless of ownership in the future."

But Labor's Paul Papalia disagrees, "We won't sell off assets.  If you sell Western Power the state loses a revenue stream of $150m."

Labor believes that with this sale prices will go up, service will go down, and the government will lose revenue.

"The sale won't diminish debt by any significant amount, and it won't release any money for spending on infrastructure," said Papalia.


Author:Jael Napper

Upcoming Events

Latest news

Digital Utility Awards - Recognition for Regional Power Company Horizon Power

Horizon Power was named Digital Utility of the Year at a presentation event in Melbourne recently (19 April), which is fantastic recognition of our transformation from an energy-focused utility to a technology-focused one. The top award, Utility Innovator of the Year, went to our Managing Director Frank Tudor for overseeing our strategic ...

Read More

Articles via RSS rss

Sign Up for the latest news & events

Does your business attract, recruit and retain staff by offering employment or work experience to young Aboriginal employees?
CLICK HERE to become a Working Together Employer of Choice.

 

Members

We are located at:

6 Napier Tce
(behind the Westpac bank)
Broome
WA 6725

Chamber office hours

Monday: 10am - 3pm
Tuesday: 10am - 2pm
Wednesday: 10am - 3pm
Thursday: 10am - 2pm
Friday: 10am - 2pm

Please ring for an appointment

Phone

(08) 9193 5553

After Hours

0410 967 509