Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I’ll await our fossil fuel shill’s input.

:-)

Yay us.

My power is certainly cheaper than it used to be. I put $1560 into my electricity account annually ($30 a week) and it covers all bills, which are reliably in credit (even the winter bill these days).

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

How many Syd Harbs of motza would that be?

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

They can always put taxes up and treat it as government provided capital works so the costs stay hidden I suppose.

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

We have only occasionally used extra capacity in the existing system, why should renewables be any different?

what would we save on not buying coal? plus maintenance of coalfired boilers etc?

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Australian power prices now ‘among lowest in the world’ as renewable energy drives costs down

New analysis by the Australian Energy Council (AEC), which represents big power providers, shows typical residential power bills fell over the past three years as a raft of changes put downward pressure on prices.

Using data from the competition watchdog, the AEC said a typical residential bill was $1434 a year in 2020-21, a figure that was 8 per cent — or $128 — lower than 2018-19.

According to the council, Australian households were paying the 10th lowest rate among the world’s advanced economies for every unit of electricity they used.

It said Australian prices were US17.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) when adjusted for purchasing power parity, a measure that tries to equalise the cost of identical goods.

In 2014, the last time the council did an international comparison, Australian prices were US20.5¢kW/h.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/renewables-make-power-prices-among-lowest-in-world/100801126

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

We currently produce about 250,000 GWh of electricity per annum in Australia. Snowy Mountain Hydro produces about 4,500 GWh per annum.

Witty Rejoinder said:

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

We have only occasionally used extra capacity in the existing system, why should renewables be any different?

You have to vastly oversize wind and solar systems to match existing base load power. Wind has a capacity factor of around 30% of nameplate on average.

sibeen said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

sibeen said:

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

We have only occasionally used extra capacity in the existing system, why should renewables be any different?

You have to vastly oversize wind and solar systems to match existing base load power. Wind has a capacity factor of around 30% of nameplate on average.

And today was a nice and hot sunny day, up to a point, and this was my solar output for the day.

sibeen said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

sibeen said:

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

We have only occasionally used extra capacity in the existing system, why should renewables be any different?

You have to vastly oversize wind and solar systems to match existing base load power. Wind has a capacity factor of around 30% of nameplate on average.

Thanks.

There is still a big missing link in storage.

The Rev Dodgson said:

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

Yes…this.

Renewable is great, up to a point. At a certain level you’ve got to bring in storage, something which really hasn’t been done as yet, the Snowy being an exception. And all that is going to cost a motza.

They can always put taxes up and treat it as government provided capital works so the costs stay hidden I suppose.

Snowy Hydro is 100% owned by the Commonwealth, yes?.. despite using tax revenue to pay for it, I can’t see them not passing on the cost of the infrastructure to the energy wholesalers.

party_pants said:

There is still a big missing link in storage.

Yes, the BIG BATTERY in South Australia can store 194 MWh. I did a BOTE last year to estimate our storage requirements if we went fully renewable and had 24 hours of back-up. It came to about 650 GWh. So the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.03% of the way there. 24 hours is also way too short a back up time, a week would be a more conservative engineering figure, so in reality the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.0045% of the way there :)

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

There is still a big missing link in storage.

Yes, the BIG BATTERY in South Australia can store 194 MWh. I did a BOTE last year to estimate our storage requirements if we went fully renewable and had 24 hours of back-up. It came to about 650 GWh. So the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.03% of the way there. 24 hours is also way too short a back up time, a week would be a more conservative engineering figure, so in reality the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.0045% of the way there :)

Lithium batteries are great for portable appliances like phones, laptops and power tools… but are not the answer for grid scale storage.

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

There is still a big missing link in storage.

Yes, the BIG BATTERY in South Australia can store 194 MWh. I did a BOTE last year to estimate our storage requirements if we went fully renewable and had 24 hours of back-up. It came to about 650 GWh. So the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.03% of the way there. 24 hours is also way too short a back up time, a week would be a more conservative engineering figure, so in reality the BIG BATTERY gets us about 0.0045% of the way there :)

Lithium batteries are great for portable appliances like phones, laptops and power tools… but are not the answer for grid scale storage.

the push to decarbonise the economy is happening now.. companies are already looking at ways decrease their scope 2 and scope 3 emissions… solutions to large scale power storage will come if for no other reason than the market value of large corporations will be dependent on it.

The Rev Dodgson said:

I suppose that’s good news, but what happens when the cost of all the capital works required for bulk storage and grid upgrades gets added in, when the fossil fuelled plants finally start getting turned off for good?

I will assume there will be a sharp and painful “correction” in electricity prices.

Bubblecar said:

My power is certainly cheaper than it used to be. I put $1560 into my electricity account annually ($30 a week) and it covers all bills, which are reliably in credit (even the winter bill these days).

Similar, I spend more on ‘supply charges’ than actual electricity. Gas on the other hand…

Haven’t paid for electricity for about eleven years here thanks to the 5.2 kW of panels on the roof. They’ve saved us a huge amount of money.

Spiny Norman said:

Haven’t paid for electricity for about eleven years here thanks to the 5.2 kW of panels on the roof. They’ve saved us a huge amount of money.

You must have a decent feed in tariff.