The Lock the Gate Alliance is dismayed that the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has failed to heed calls to protect NSW households from the profiteering activities of big gas exporting companies with the release today of the Tribunal’s decision to hike gas prices this winter.
Lock the Gate NSW Coordinator, Georgina Woods said, "From July onward, domestic consumers and Australian manufacturing industries will be paying the price for the CSG industry’s push to export product overseas.
"This price hike is a bandaid measure that serves the interests of the gas companies and impacts on the competitiveness of this state. It's a result of Governments forsaking the public interest. We are damaging the environment, risking food security and threatening our water resources, and we don’t even get cheap gas anymore.
"The CSG export industry is causing domestic gas prices to rise by linking us to world prices. Households in NSW can expect to pay up to $223 extra per year for gas starting this winter July 2014, with the biggest leap in the first year. This is what happens when the Government cedes policy making to the mining industry: the public suffers.
"NSW needs a major review of the management and regulation of the energy resources sector and its pillaging attitude to our natural resources and NSW households need support to cope with the increased cost of living that the gas industry has forced upon them. Part of this is the need for a comprehensive energy plan.
"It is time for a widespread public debate on the best mix of energy solutions and regional development options that protect land and water. It's time to chart a direction that benefits the people of this state and not just the energy providers and resource developers."