Tasmanian Greens - Media Release - GOVERNMENT EVASION OVER BASSLINK BLOWOUTS

GOVERNMENT EVASION OVER BASSLINK BLOWOUTS

The Tasmanian Greens today condemned the evasive attitude of Minister for Energy David Llewellyn and his refusal to quantify the real costs of the Basslink project in the face of growing concerns that the Tasmanian population may face price hikes and also the re-writing of history by Hydro Chairman Dr David Crean in insinuating that savings in gas power generation were always part of the Basslink business plan when gas wasn’t even available when Basslink was first proposed by the Hydro.
Greens Shadow Energy spokesperson Kim Booth MHA said that it was extraordinary that neither Minister Llewellyn nor Hydro Chairman Dr Crean could give accurate figures on the net cost of Basslink over the past eight months and criticised the fact that ‘savings on gas generated power’ were somehow now part of the benefits of Basslink when the project had always been touted as a standalone money spinner for the Hydro.
“What we heard this morning is that neither the Minister nor Hydro are prepared to put a dollar figure on the real costs of Basslink but instead are spreading the pain over the whole of Hydro by claiming that Hydro’s aggregate profit and cash-flow includes Basslink,” Mr Booth said.
“Minister Llewellyn continuously evaded specific questions on the real cost of Basslink and the impact of price hikes for Tasmanians which he has alluded to in the media and which now seem a real possibility.”
“The Greens have long been on the public record over our concerns with the hidden costs of Basslink project and we also warned that it would be the Mums and dads consumers who would end up paying for Basslink one way or another and this is exactly what we now see unfolding.”
“Hydro has now downgraded it’s profit forecast from $29 million but chairman Dr Crean was unable to give any specific details of just how low it would fall.”
“This is on top of the unbudgeted $70 million blowout in costs which has seen Hydro import $35 million of power over Basslink and a borrow a further $23 million to take it’s debt level up to $1.1 billion.”
“It was the Greens who produced the facts this morning and quoted from Hydro’s own submission to the original Joint Approvals Process which examined Basslink where they said themselves that Basslink, “…is a very thin deal commercially for Hydro Tasmania. Moderate cost increases… would render the project non-viable.”
And also that,
“The break even point for the project for Hydro Tasmania has about a 65% probability of being achieved. . . an increase in costs of the order of 10 % changes the project’s viability to having a 50% probability of not breaking even.” [Hydro Tasmania’s opening submission to the Basslink Integrated Impact Assessment Statement (IIAS) October 2001
“So it is difficult for the government to spin their line that the Greens are doom mongers when Hydro’s own words are there in black and white,” Mr Booth said.