Report below explains what’s really happening behind privatised power in Australia eg how IPR Gdf-SUEZ can “win” 20% of annual profit from Hazelwood in just 8 hours! A National auction system pays very high prices for peak demand power, in heatwave conditions.
Whereas good old Hazelwood costs $0.004/kWhr at the power station, it can actually receive anything up to a $12.50/kWhr ceiling price, if anybody else bids so high and the auction system needs to accept such expensive power to meet demand. What a profit, 312,500%! Could this be a legacy of super efficiencies pioneered by Enron?
Obviously our flat rate electricity bills don’t show prices wildly high or low. Not yet. But smart meters provide for “real time – user pays” billing.
Good news – increasing availability of lower cost power from renewables, solar and wind, is showing a pay back, way beyond cost of up front rebates, because the auction system has less need to buy high priced power.  Elsewhere in the world, because of renewables and efficiency measures, demand, especially peak demand, is dropping, which means no new power stations or expensive infrastructure needed, which means lower costs and emissions.
Bad news – our politicians appear hostage to big fossil fuel power. Minister Ferguson wants more privatisation of electricity, also converting big old power stations to gas, also needing big investment in poles and wires. Such investment will need to be stranded, long before use by date, when CO2 cuts cannot be ignored. Why waste such opportunity? Why not renewables, right now?

Solar parity scaring big utilities