THE Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, has criticised the electricity industry's federal watchdog, accusing it of giving the go-ahead to a billion dollar plan that will boost investment in polluting coal-fired power stations, increase electricity bills for residents and seriously undermine her green vision for the city unveiled last year.
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Cr Moore plans to organise city mayors from across Australia to write to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, calling for the watchdog, the Australian Energy Regulator, to take into account plans to reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by reforming the electricity network.
This includes strategies by city mayors to radically reshape the electricity network in the capital cities by improving energy efficiency and using more renewable energy from local green power generators in buildings and city blocks.
"While the Federal Government is talking about plans to move towards a sustainable future, their own Australian Energy Regulator is moving in the opposite direction," she said.
The criticism was prompted by the regulator's decision to endorse proposals by the state's energy retailers such as EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy and Country Energy to pump $15 billion into the electricity network, including strengthening the poles and wires connecting households and businesses back to coal fired power stations.
"This short-sighted plan to invest in unsustainable technology will lead to billions wasted on expanding connections to coal-fired plants which are set to become financially unviable under carbon pricing plans," she said.
The chairman of the Australian Energy Regulator, Steve Edwell, said he and his colleagues were responding to requests from electricity retailers on the investment decision. Cr Moore's submission would be taken seriously, he said.
