The debate in WA about whether to privatise its poles and wires network is shaping as the most important issue in next year's state election, with Treasurer Mike Nahan saying the economy won't grow unless Western Power is sold.
The treasurer helped launched a report on Wednesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry that predicted a full sale would command up to $16 billion for the state's coffers.
Using that windfall to pay down debt and for new assets and projects was the next step in the massive economic development Perth had enjoyed in the past decade due to the once-in-a-generation mining boom, the report argues.
However, going to the March state election with the policy of privatising the electricity utility carries risk, with a recent poll of Dr Nahan's own Perth seat finding more than 62 per cent of voters against the sale.
But Dr Nahan believes that by the time he announces the Liberal National government's plans for privatising Western Power, it will resolve the public's concerns that it will send their power bills up and service levels down.
"We have a system/structure now, an approach that we are about ready to make a decision on and bring to the public that resolves all the issues and all the concerns that people legitimately have on the transition from public to private ownership," he told reporters.
He promised electricity prices would not go up due to privatisation, as the Labor opposition claims, because pricing and expenditure would continue to be independently regulated by the Economic Regulation Authority.
"The difference will be the future growth of Western Australia or just standing back and letting life go by, no investment, increasing deficit and debt, that's going to be the difference," Dr Nahan said.
WA's treasury has record debt of more than $27 billion, 25-30 per cent of which is tied up in Western Power, Dr Nahan says.
WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Deidre Willmott said the report debunked damaging myths about privatisation around security of supply, safety and prices that misled the public and had not occurred in Victoria and South Australia.
"Without this we are facing increased debt and where are the funds for future investment going to come? ... It doesn't make sense to hold on to old assets and established assets the government doesn't need to own," she told reporters.
Labor leader Mark McGowan says WA is too remote to risk supply by selling Western Power because it is not part of the electrically connected National Electricity Market.
