WESTERN POWER — REFERENCE
TARIFF
475. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary question.
From 1 July, will all households have the supply charge from Synergy dropped
from $1.03 to 87�?
Mr W.J.
JOHNSTON replied:
The
daily supply charge for Synergy recovers not only the Western Power fixed costs,
but also other fixed costs that Synergy takes account of. As the member
knows, as a former minister of government, when he was in government, there was a regular discussion. Almost every time
the then Minister for Energy or the then Premier spoke about the energy
system in Western Australia, they discussed a range of fixed costs; for
example, they discussed the question of the capacity charges. That was one of
the issues that were constantly being raised in this chamber. The idea that the
only fixed costs that Synergy labours under is the Western Power connection
cost is a bizarre question from a person who holds himself out to be the future
energy minister. I would have suspected that before he asked about a charge
from Synergy, he would have asked what fixed costs Synergy is recovering
through its charge, because Western Power does not bill consumers in this
state. It may be that direct billing of consumers by Western Power would be a superior
way of making arrangements in Western Australia, but that is not what happens
at the moment. What Synergy does in its
daily supply charge is recover its fixed costs. Some of those fixed costs—in
fact, the majority of those fixed costs—are the Western Power
costs. The member has recently asked a question about the cost stack for energy
supply in Western Australia, and I believe he has the answer already. He should
go back and read the answer to that question and he will see the range of fixed
costs that Synergy suffers. I am not quite sure why he thinks it is only one fixed
cost, when that has already been provided to him in answer to questions.