<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/saul-griffiths-call-to-arms-he-wants-a-consumer-army-to-lead-fight-for-cheapest-energy-system/>
"Saul Griffith wants to build an army. Not of soldiers, but of ordinary
Australians – householders, tradies, and communities – who can demand more from
the energy industry and government.
Griffith is an engineer, inventor and author who has spent decades tackling
climate change, advising policymakers around the world, helping shape the US
Inflation Reduction Act, and founding Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia
to drive electrification from households up.
He’s currently on his ‘Faster and Fairer’ tour to promote his new book,
Plug
In, an electrification handbook for householders and tradies who are on the
front line of Australia’s energy transition.
At a recent live event on the Gold Coast, hosted by Electrify Gold Coast and
Rewiring Australia, he told the audience he’d like “to build the army, to build
enough political pressure to get the government to actually go at the speed and
pace required and help make this a fairer, easier project for as many
Australians as possible.”
Households are carrying some of the heaviest investment load in the energy
system through rooftop solar, home batteries, and EVs, and Griffith wants
Australians to realise the power they already hold.
“We are making more substantial infrastructure investments than the
corporations. They’re getting guaranteed 10% returns. I haven’t seen anyone
guarantee your 10% returns,” he told the live audience.
Griffith says consumers are still missing out on influence. “We’re not getting
a super deal yet, and we don’t even have representation at board level, or
voting, in any sense, on the governance of our electricity market,” argues
Griffith. “And that’s slowing the transition down, and it’s not giving us the
cheapest energy system.”
For Griffith the cheapest solution for the energy transition is simple: to
generate electricity close to where it is used.
“The cheapest energy system in Australia comes about when you maximize rooftop
solar, then you generate as much electricity as you can in your local
community. So that means on the roof of Bunnings, on the church, on the surf
club, over car parks on the school. Because you’re avoiding all of the big
network costs.”
Electricity networks, he warns, are often more interested in guaranteed returns
than in empowering consumers. “They’re not necessarily on board with all you
owning all the batteries,” he told the audience. “They’d like to own the
batteries so they get guaranteed 10% returns.”
Meanwhile, households are already paying for a large portion of the system:
“About 40% of the price of electricity you buy from the grid is for the local
poles and wires, and 10% of it is for the people who do the accounting and the
billing and reading the meter.”
Which is why Griffith celebrates the “rooftop revolution”: “You generate right
there behind the meter. You don’t need to pay for the poles and the wires or
the transmission or the generators or anything.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
