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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/13/australias-household-energy-bills-will-halve-by-2050-modelling-suggests>
"Australian household energy bills will halve by 2050 as solar panels,
batteries and electric cars and appliances become the norm, reducing pressure
on the federal government over living costs and creating room for more climate
action, a thinktank study suggests.
Modelling by the Grattan Institute finds that cutting greenhouse gas emissions
from electricity generation in line with the goal of reaching net zero
emissions by 2050 will cut average household energy costs from about $5,800
today to about $3,000.
The report says a fall of roughly this magnitude will happen under existing
policies as households use less gas and petrol and more clean energy. The
biggest savings are expected in gas-reliant Victoria, where the modelling
suggests average annual spending on petrol, gas and electricity could fall from
$6,036 to $2,767.
The report says emission cuts in the power sector are not happening fast enough
and the mid-century net zero target will not be met without a policy requiring
cuts in pollution from electricity.
The Grattan Institute has called on the government to consider expanding a
policy applied to major industrial polluting sites – the safeguard mechanism –
to include power plants. It says this would limit household energy savings
compared with what would otherwise happen, but only marginally – by about 3%.
It says the safeguard mechanism is already a form of carbon pricing – language
the Labor government has avoided since it lost a fraught political fight that
culminated with the Coalition government under Tony Abbott abolishing a
functioning carbon pricing scheme in 2014. The institute’s energy and climate
change program director, Alison Reeve, said how people use energy has changed
since then “and the politics of carbon pricing should change too”.
“For too long, federal governments of both political colours have avoided
pricing carbon because they fear higher electricity prices,” Reeve said. “Our
report shows that the source of that fear is becoming outdated.”"
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
