Source: The Sunday Telegraph
WHEN you strip away all the noise, what really presses most on Australians’ sense of wellbeing is the relentless and punishing rise in the cost of living.
That is the inescapable truth beneath all the rolling political debates of our time — and utilities are the heart of this problem. It is no surprise to anyone in NSW that power prices are causing families to suffer — except, apparently, the power companies themselves.
The Sunday Telegraph has been campaigning hard on behalf of our readers to make the energy and water retailers act responsibly. Again and again, the response has displayed they are out of touch with reality.
When we asked energy companies in 2011 how they would bring prices down, Ausgrid’s then-chairman John Conde told us his company had introduced payment plans to help struggling householders pay their bills.
That was it — an admission that Ausgrid didn’t particularly care if people were struggling or not, just as long as they eventually paid up.
Today, The Sunday Telegraph reveals new figures from the NSW Energy and Water Ombudsman, Clare Petre, that show a 21 per cent spike in complaints from customers being denied payment extensions.
So the energy companies aren’t even living up to the one thing — payment programs — they promised.
Families disconnected from power are surviving without electricity for up to a month, Ms Petre says.
She is calling for an urgent national debate on how to help the vulnerable families — because, although most disconnected customers are plugged back in after a short period, they are continuing to rack up bills they cannot hope to afford.
Ms Petre says the real problem is the massive fixed-cost proportion of every bill. No matter how many lights customers switch off, they still have to pay the huge immovable charges that cover the companies’ network costs.
Both AGL and Origin say they encourage customers to get in touch if they’re facing financial strain and are always happy to put people on payment plans.
But Ms Petre is right.
There must be systemic national change to the way power companies are allowed to operate — or we will see more families shivering in the dark this winter.
The Liberal Party seems to think it can dismiss Bill Heffernan as an affable mad uncle, laughing off allegations he made an homophobic attack as just another example of lovable eccentricity.
That is not good enough. Heffernan’s rants about gay people have become so predictable they are even considered part of his charm by many within the party.
That’s why the party is attempting to smother — rather than investigate — revelations he is accused of seriously intimidating a homosexual man as part of the party’s shambolic Central Coast factional fight.
If the Liberals want to be considered a party for modern times, it is inexcusable to so flatly dismiss serious allegations without comment.
Heffernan is not just any old backbencher — he is Tony Abbott’s emissary to the NSW State Executive. This is the same body Mr Abbott blamed for butchering his chances of winning the 2010 election.
Now, with the almost inevitable 2013 victory looming, the same old brouhaha is back.
If Mr Abbott wants to be seriously considered as prime minister, he must stand up to his party’s very real internal troubles.
Responsibility for election comment is taken by the editor, Neil Breen, 2 Holt St, Surry Hills 2010