‘No idea what he’s talking about’: Dutton’s nuclear plan could raise – not cut – electricity bills, experts warn | Nuclear power

Energy experts separated the claims Peter Daton His plan to slow the start of renewable energy while waiting for more than a decade for nuclear factories funded by taxpayers can reduce electricity bills in the short term.

If there is a “44 % decrease in an energy system, you expect a 44 % reduction, or from this arrangement, it is passed by reducing the energy bill.”

However, this was a “complete misunderstanding” of the coalition policy, according to Dr. Dylan McConnell, an expert at the University of New South Wales. “He has no idea what he is talking about,” McConnell said.

Speaking to the ABC program on Sunday, Datton said that “energy prices will be cheaper in the short term as well as in the medium to long term as well.”

If it is elected, the coalition will have to break the federal ban and the prohibition of states on nuclear energy; It claims that the first factories can be designed by 2037. Experts, including CSIRO, say that the early twenties of the twentieth century is a more realistic time frame.

The coalition did not reveal any details about its plans close to the term to generate electricity, but Daton said, “We will have to do a lot with gas, with coal, in the system.”

McConnell’s analysis suggested that the alliance’s dependence on more coal and gas will add 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the air by 2050, compared to the work plan.

Data suggests from CSIRO using gas to generate more than charcoal, solar energy and wind. CSIRO said nuclear electricity will be at least more expensive than renewable energy sources.

Gas prices doubled three times when the coalition was in power, according to Titustan Edis, an analyst in Green energy Markets.

He said that energy prices are likely to decrease during the next two years after inflation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He said: “After this two -year period, it is difficult to understand how the coalition will reduce energy prices if it intends to depend simply on the already existing power plants and not additional competition.”

“Coal factories have become old and banks are reluctant to finance renewal costs. If we rely on additional gas, this will increase energy prices, and not reduce them – because gas is expensive.”

Edis said the coalition costs for building a 1GW nuclear factory had been appointed at a price of one billion dollars, which was “unrealisticly low” and could be at least doubled. He said that this would lead to high prices of wholesale electricity and home bills.

Frontier Economics has released the coalition -backed modeling, which compared the cost of renewable renewable plan to work with an electricity system that expects a lower demand for electricity and includes a nuclear.

Datton claimed that modeling showed that the coalition approach would cost 44 % of the Labor Party plan, McConnell was doubtful.

“This is a clear misunderstanding of what constitutes an electricity bill and what [modelling report] Offers. “

He said that only about 45 % of the home electricity bill relate to the cost of the electricity system and the sentence costs related to the cost of the system referred to by Dutton. The rest is related to the costs of columns, local wires, retail costs and environmental fees.

Danny Price, Managing Director of Frontier Economics, defended Dutton’s comments, saying that if he indicates a portion of energy costs of people’s bills, he must transfer the low cost to families.

But on the effect on the total electricity bills for families, “it is a more complicated question,” he said, due to uncertainty about how prices are set in the market.

For this reason, his company did not try to predict what the coalition plan for electricity bills for individuals or electricity prices will do.