BELL BAY POWER SALE BLOWS A FUSE


Alinta Fails To Meet Conditions Precedent


The Tasmanian Greens today in Parliament extracted an admission from Energy Minister, David Llewellyn that the sale of Bell Bay Power to Alinta is foundering due to the Minister’s concession that Alinta has been unable to meet conditions precedent to the contract.
Greens Shadow Energy spokesperson and member for Bass Kim Booth MHA said the failure of Alinta to meet the second extension contract date meant that the sale had officially fallen through and that the Government now had an opportunity to reassess the sale of Bell Bay Power and to take any proposal to the next election in order to honour Labor’s pledge not to sell the Hydro.
“Hands off the Hydro should mean none of Hydro’s assets are sold, and Alinta’s failure to meet contract closure now provides the Government with the opportunity to reconsider the ill-conceived sale of Bell Bay,” Mr Booth said.
“It is notable that the Government did not choose to update the Tasmanian public about this sale foundering, but instead it had to be pried from the Minister under questioning from the Greens.”
“Bell Bay Power now provides an important part of Tasmania’s generating capacity which will become more important as the drought starved Hydro’s storages run dry.”
“The Government tried to grab $30 million short-term cash by flogging off Bell Bay in order to pay for Elwick Racetrack, but in doing so has left a long-term debt of $55 million for the three gas producing generators and unlimited liability for overseas-commissioning this site.”
“Bell Bay Power has been running twenty-four-seven for most of this year and without it Hydro storages would be absolutely stressed.”
“Hydro is heading for trouble and to sell off a public asset at a time like this is very short sighted.”
“Tasmanian electricity consumers could be held to ransom by private power generators cashing in on the shortages.”
“The $92 million per year Basslink cable rent has compromised Hydro’s financial position and to effectively give away Bell Bay is reckless and short sighted.”
“The Government should now grab the opportunity to keep Bell Bay Power in public hands,” said Mr Booth.