Labor makes pitch to regulate power prices

NSW Labor says it would re-regulate the electricity market, invest more in renewable energy and accelerate the Western Sydney metro project if elected in 2019.

Luke Foley

File image: NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley (AAP) Source: AAP

The NSW Labor party has been labelled "clueless" for vowing to reduce energy bills by re-regulating the electricity market.

Opposition leader Luke Foley made the pledge while outlining Labor's plans to boost investment in solar energy and battery storage in his budget reply speech on Thursday.

The government's 2014 promise that deregulation of the electricity market would put downward pressure on prices was false, Mr Foley argued, with households set to face an annual average increase of more than $300 from July 1.

"Labor will not stand by and let family budgets be crushed and businesses be wrecked by power price hikes," he told parliament.

If elected in 2019, Labor would legislate to stop electricity retailers making "super profits".

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the state's independent pricing regulator has found de-regulation benefits customers.

"IPART also found that by switching to the lowest market ... a typical household can save between $284 and $405 per year compared to standard retail offer," she said.

Ms Berejiklian accused the "lazy Labor leader" of not doing his homework.

Several of the opposition's promises - including a bid to nominate Sydney's Royal National Park for World Heritage listing - had already been proposed by the government, she said.

The opposition leader had also channelled US President Donald Trump's wife by reheating a policy on traineeships.

"He had a Melania Trump moment, I'll tell you why," Ms Berejiklian said during a rowdy question time on Thursday.

"This was the exact wording that (former opposition leader) John Robertson used in the 2014 budget reply speech."

Labor's vision also includes using the proceeds from the federal buyout of the Snowy Hydro scheme for renewable energy generation in the regions.

Labor would further prioritise the Western Metro railway line between the city and Parramatta over the "premier's pet project" - the Northern Beaches tunnel.

The Berejiklian government set aside $72.7 billion for state infrastructure after Tuesday's budget predicted healthy surpluses for the next four years.

There was also massive health and education spending - including an extra $1.6 billion to help deal with the unprecedented surge in student enrolments - while the government's roads and rail projects were promised $41.4 billion up to 2020/21.


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Source: AAP


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