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"Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power appear to be the impetus behind a South Australian proposal to substantially drop electricity prices, just as other states are hiking theirs. The Essential Service Commission of South Australian (ESCOSA), which regulates retail electricity prices, has released a draft price determination that proposes an 8.1% reduction in the electricity standing offer, (that is, the default retail price that must be offered to South Australians, at a minimum)."

"How can putting a price on carbon lower greenhouse gas emissions? Get to grips with the theory of how carbon pricing works."

"Australia's carbon pricing mechanism has been vilified by the Federal Opposition and certain members of the business community, but it is a key part of Australia's response to climate change. So one year on, where does it stand? Far from being "absolutely catastrophic" and a "wrecking ball" to the economy as initially predicted by Tony Abbott, the Australian economy is still ticking over much as it was. Anyone with genuine concerns on the impacts of the carbon price should be comforted by experience to date, and those engaging in fear mongering will need to find a new story."

"From mid-September, more electricity customers will be able to consider new flexible pricing offers. You don't have to switch to flexible pricing - the choice is yours - you can stay on your current rate."

"Tristan Edis - Why focus group testing may be telling politicians something different to the statistical evidence. While the analysis of the statistical evidence presented in part one of this series indicates that there's not that much to be afraid of with pricing carbon, politicians don't seem to think so. Partly this has been the result of some rather bad timing and mismanagement around energy policy"

"With Australian electricity prices amongst the highest in the world, more and more households are going solar. The big power companies say the Renewable Energy Target is undermining their businesses and they want it wound back. The federal government agrees, so who is to blame for the high price of power? Jess Hill investigates."

Also the chart below taken from a Climate Spectator article by Dr Jenny Riesz is one of the most illuminating. It shows the cross-over point between the cost of wind and a gas combined-cycle power plant depending on gas and carbon prices. While it is slightly out of date with the cross-over between wind and gas now about $1 per GJ lower than indicated, it still provides a good illustration of how gas and the carbon price influence the economics between wind versus gas.

"Electricity generated by Australia's highly polluting brown coal power plants has fallen 14 per cent since introduction of the carbon price, while renewable power has soared."

"Renewable energy such as wind, solar and hydro power could supply electricity at prices comparable to fossil fuels by 2030, according to a study commissioned by the federal government. Modelling by the Australian Energy Market Operator shows that 100 per cent of power from clean energy would be technically viable by 2030 - although with a price tag ranging from $219 billion to $252 billion."

"There is little doubt that Kevin Rudd's plan to bring forward international linking and trading of emission permits is a smart political move. It removes a key option for Tony Abbott. Now Mr Abbott is forced to apply the most extreme interpretation of his promise to remove the carbon tax: remove all pricing mechanisms. Until now, many commentators have pointed to the vague wording of his promise to argue that bringing forward the internationally linked trading scheme would be an obvious path for him after winning the election."

"While the Coalition didn't release a 2013 election policy document explaining how they'd reduce emissions, they did release a document outlining how they'd axe the tax. The document is entitled The Coalition's Policy to Deliver Lower Prices by Scrapping the Carbon Tax. Within it is an excellent idea well worth supporting, in that it will highlight just how 'brilliant' the Abbott government's cost of living 'relief' will be when it axes the carbon tax. "

"Australia has a problem with its power system that goes to the core of many issues we're facing at the moment - increasing coal and gas prices, changing electricity usage, and climate change. That's the problem of resilience: how well our power system can adapt to change. Right now, our power system is not in a position to adapt to change. If temperatures rise as expected; if the global price of coal and gas increase dramatically; if global carbon reduction becomes binding; or we start changing our electricity usage patterns, adjusting the system will be very expensive."

The results of the government's first reverse auction of carbon-cutting projects have been released. Where is the money going? The government will spend A$660 of its A$2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund on contracts set to reduce emissions by some 447 million tonnes, more than half of it in "carbon farming" projects to lock up carbon in vegetation. Federal environment minister Greg Hunt described the outcome as a "stunning result" for Australia, pointing out that the average price of A$13.95 per tonne of carbon is cheaper than the previous government's carbon pricing scheme. But critics have pointed to the lack of involvement so far from industry sectors that were covered by the previous carbon tax, and the fact that the new scheme is paid for by taxpayers rather than the businesses creating the pollution. Here are the numbers:"

The Grattan Institute report looked at how viable a carbon price would be for Australia's largest industries. In this Slow TV video, report authors John Daley and Tristan Edis show how a carbon price won't bring about job losses, increase prices or send big business broke.

"Tristan Edis - With both the Coalition and Labor repeatedly making unconditional commitments to reduce Australia's emissions by at least 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, the question is not whether or not we should reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but rather how we reduce them."

"In the US, utilities are now seeking to protect their business models by pushing hard against net metering and seeking to influence the pace and manner of deployment of other technologies and new energy market concept that don't fit the decades old model. In Australia, much the same has been happening. RenewEconomy reported on the concerns of utilities in this article last month. Feed-in-tariffs have been wound back, as they were supposed to have been as technology costs fell, but now the pendulum is swinging the other way, and utilities - with the apparent complicity of state-based pricing regulators - are now trying to extract as much revenue from solar customers as they can."

There is increasing public concern about the rising prices of energy and fuel. Running alongside that is the continuing concern about the impact we all have on the environment. The 10% Challenge is a timely campaign that gives solutions to both of these concerns. The aim of The 10% Challenge is to encourage households to reduce their energy and fuel use by 10%.