Matthew Guy playing dirty politics with Victorian's power bills

Environment Victoria’s CEO Mark Wakeham said today that Matthew Guy was crying crocodile tears and running scare campaigns on energy prices, when all the while the Coalition’s current policies are guaranteed to increase power bills.

“Mr Guy and some Liberal Party members who run businesses are trying to promote fear about electricity prices,” Mr Wakeham said.

“The fact is though that by promising to scrap the state’s legislated renewable energy target Mr Guy is guaranteeing electricity prices will rise if he becomes Premier.

“The fastest way to cut power bills is to build new sources of energy. The Victorian Renewable Energy Target aims to build 5400 MW of new power, more than 3 times the capacity of Hazelwood. These solar and wind farms will cut power bills for households and businesses.

“There are no plans to build new coal or gas power stations in Victoria, but there are plans to continue growing Victoria’s renewable energy industry. Not only will this provide more jobs for Victorians, but the Australian Energy Market Commission has shown that as we increase investment in renewable energy, our power prices will fall.

“Mr Guy’s plans to kneecap our renewable energy industry and stop new clean energy from being built will inevitably lead to higher prices for businesses like Doyle’s Bridge Hotel in Mordialloc.

“Matthew Guy’s plan for energy blocks investment in cheap new renewable energy, provides public subsidies to prop up polluting coal-burning power stations, encourages drilling for gas that doesn’t exist, and ignores the potential for energy efficiency to cut people’s energy bills.

“It’s 2018 but Matthew Guy is using yesterday’s thinking. His policies are bad for power bills, bad for the environment, and bad for Victoria.

“If he is genuinely concerned about electricity prices, Mr Guy needs to urgently review the Victorian Liberal Party’s current policy to destroy investment in new power generation in Victoria. He must come up with a plan that puts renewable energy at the centre of the state’s energy supply,” said Mr Wakeham.