We are told that the carbon tax will allow the market to determine how to best reduce the use of carbon fuels.
But we still have a thicket of bureaucratic rules, subsidies and mandates driving up the cost of electricity. This is not the market reacting to a simple tax — it is a costly mess.
If politicians were honest about reducing costs for Australian households and taxpayers, four steps are required:
First, abolish all rules forcing electricity retailers to buy a mandated percentage of their power from expensive and unreliable sources such as wind and solar.
Second, abolish all rules forcing electricity retailers and consumers to pay above market prices for green energy, whether they want it or not.
Third, abolish the carbon tax and all the subsidies, compensation, exemptions and compliance costs associated with it. This money merry-go-round increases costs and taxes and achieves nothing useful.
Finally, boycott those shameless electricity retailers who have actively spread the green energy myths knowing that this will increase electricity prices, while simultaneously requiring more gas back-up, thus benefitting their own gas interests.
Viv Forbes,
Rosewood
