THE NSW Upper House inquiry into the privatisation of the state’s poles and wires has wrapped up its three public hearings in Sydney.
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More than 40 people appeared before the inquiry into the Leasing of Electricity Infrastructure, chaired by Christian Democrat MLC Fred Nile.
Premier Mike Baird was first up telling the inquiry he believed significant regional benefits would come from the multi-billion dollar windfall.
“We will be addressing the regional road freight corridor to increase productivity [and] there will also be important safety measures for regional communities.
“There will be investment in education and health and country rail [and] a pipeline and infrastructure to support water security across NSW.”
The CEO of the Energy Supply Association of Australia, Matthew Warren, told the inquiry conventional electricity systems once operated with enormous economies of scale but said that is changing.
“If you go to the Bayswater power station up in the Hunter Valley, the building that houses the turbines is about a kilometre long.
“That maths is now changing,” he told the Committee, “[with] the rise of the micro-grids you may see groups of households evolve into their own sort of arrangements where they generate some or all of their own electricity.”
The CEO of Infrastructure NSW, Jim Betts, said funding is needed for a backlog of infrastructure, including road links to improve connections for miners and primary producers on the New England Highway and the Golden Highway.
“Within our recommendations is broadly $6 billion worth of investment in regional NSW,” he said.
Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, Steve Butler, said the planned leasing arrangement could see nearly a third of power jobs disappear.
“There are three things we have said: loss of jobs; loss of job opportunities for young folk; and rises in electricity cost.
“Apprenticeships, in other states that have privatised [their electricity network], didn’t just diminish they disappeared completely,” he told the Committee.
Adam Kerslake, the Director of “Stop the Sell-Off Campaign” was also invited to address the inquiry.
“The Stop the Sell-Off Campaign has campaigned on the idea that we believe a monopoly asset that provides an essential service should be owned, operated and run by the NSW Government and not sold off to the highest bidder.
“We make the point that the highest electricity prices today are in South Australia, a fully privatised network,” Mr Kerslake told Committee members.
Former Labor Treasurer, Michael Egan, said, while he supported the leasing of 49 per cent of the state’s power infrastructure, he believed the final windfall from the sell-off would be a fraction of the anticipated $13 billion.
Mr Egan also described as “drivel” a Deloitte Access report claiming there would be a $300 billion boost to the state’s economy.
“I think they gathered all their data and put it through a Thermomix,” Mr Egan told the inquiry on the final day.
The NSW Upper House inquiry into the Leasing of Electricity Infrastructure will report its findings by Tuesday, June 2, 2015.