28/06/05
Energy Minister Alan Carpenter has congratulated the State Opposition for agreeing to support the Government's plan to reform Western Power.
To guarantee that support, Mr Carpenter said the Government had agreed to cap electricity prices for householders and small businesses during this term of office.
"Our existing budget allocations for Western Power are based upon no increase in the tariff during the current four-year budget cycle," he said.
"In return for its support for our legislation, the Opposition sought a guarantee that tariffs would not go up and that the disaggregation process would not lead to increasing prices.
"While we had no intention of increasing power prices anyway, we are happy to go the extra step and make a public commitment now that there will be no increase during this term of government."
The Minister said the Gallop Government had not increased electricity charges since it was elected in 2001.
Under the reform package, Western Power will be disaggregated into four separate business entities: a generation corporation, a retail corporation, a networks corporation and a corporation for regional power delivery.
An earlier attempt at reform failed in 2004, when the Liberal Party under Colin Barnett's leadership opposed the Government's plan.
Mr Carpenter congratulated new Opposition leader Matt Birney and Opposition Energy spokesman Dan Sullivan for supporting the reform now before the Parliament.
The Government had also agreed to an Opposition amendment to the legislation, requiring a review of the timelines that would lead to full retail contestability of electricity.
The Minister said he had not agreed to an Opposition request that all profits of the Networks Corporation be retained and no dividend be paid to the State.
"The Networks Corporation will be a State-owned monopoly business and needs the rigour of good business practice," he said.
"It is owned by the people of Western Australia and they should expect it to pay a dividend as well as to be efficiently run and operated."
Mr Carpenter said the Gallop Government was committed to improving the quality of services to all Western Australians wherever they lived.
The Minister said the Networks Corporation had received a big budget boost this year aimed at improving service and reliability, particularly in country areas.
"That commitment will continue to be pursued in forthcoming budgets," he said.
Minister's office: 9222 9699
