Rees plan puts private sector in charge of NSW power stations

Treasury Secretary John Pierce and Deputy Secretary Kevin Cosgriff made the admission under questioning from Greens NSW MP John Kaye at a parliamentary budget estimates meeting.
 
Dr Kaye said: "NSW Treasury officials have blown the whistle on Premier Rees' generator trader model. It is a giant step towards the original Costa/Iemma plan.
 
"Power station industrial relations, operations and maintenance decisions will all be specified by a contract between the private sector trader and the public sector operator.
 
"Leasing out the rights to trade the energy from the state's publicly-owned power stations is a Trojan horse for full privatisation.
 
"Once the traders have control of key decisions, it is a very small step to former Treasurer Michael Costa's power station leasing model that was resoundingly rejected by the ALP and the people of NSW.
 
"This revelation will come as a shock to power station workers, Labor party members and the community.
 
"The State will be left owning a shell as all key decisions regarding the management of the state's publicly owned power stations are determined by the successful tenderer for the generator trading rights.
 
"Premier Rees and Infrastructure Minister Joe Tripodi had cleverly disguised the original Costa/Iemma plan but the cat is now out of the bag.
 
"The back door sell-off scheme will slowly but surely pass control of the state's coal-burning power stations to the private sector.
 
"Premier Rees should immediately abandon this underhanded attempt to privatise the generators by the back door," Dr Kaye said.
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455

Further reading:

• Read John’s comments in the Sydney Morning Herald article:

The Greens MP John Kaye claimed the sale of the trading rights would give the buyers significant sway over the activities of the state-owned generators.

"The state will be left owning a shell as all key decisions regarding the management of the state's publicly owned power stations are determined by the successful tenderer for the generator trading rights," Mr Kaye said yesterday.

He said this was the same as the Iemma-Costa government's earlier plans to "lease" the generators to private buyers.

• Read the report from the ABC News:

The NSW Greens are warning power station workers in Lithgow that the State Government has not dropped its plan to privatise electricity.

Greens' MP John Kaye will meet staff at the Wallerawang Power Station today.

"We want to talk to power station workers in Lithgow to warn them that what's been wrapped up as simply a trader model is indeed power privatisation."

Mr Kaye says the Government is giving the private sector the rights to trade energy from the publicly owned stations.

"We now know that it's also going to pass to the private sector important operational aspects of the power stations like Wallerawang and Mount Piper," he said.

"It means that effectively it's a foot in the door for the private sector and it will inevitably lead to privatisation of the state's power stations."

• And also in another Sydney Morning Herald report:

"Power station industrial relations, operations and maintenance decisions will all be specified by a contract between the private sector trader and the public sector operator," Dr Kaye said.

"Leasing out the rights to trade the energy from the state's publicly-owned power stations is a Trojan Horse for full privatisation."

Dr Kaye said once the private sector had control of key decisions, NSW would be left with ownership of a shell.

"Once traders have control of key decisions, it is a very small step to former treasurer Michael Costa's power station leasing model that was resoundingly rejected by the ALP and the people of NSW," he said.