Gillard Plan to Cut Electricity Bills

The latest scheme by the Federal Government is to make the electricity retailers replace old electrical appliances in all our homes. The proposal is that the retailers be banned from passing the costs on to consumers in higher electricity bills, though I cannot imagine the retails agreeing to that - or at least if they agree it will be because they have worked out how to pass on the costs, which would of course be enormous. And of course the consequence of the activity would be to reduce demand for electricity, which will guarantee the retailers oppose the plan. Rather smacks of Rudd's proposal to tax the miners, relying on the miners generosity and public spiritedness. It will be interesting to see how the proposal survives what can be expected to be a major advertising campaign by the electricity retailers.

Apparently the proposal was received in July, but not released until after the election. The report in the Daily Telegraph explains this delay as:
"Sources said the Federal Government had refused to release the report during the election campaign for fear of igniting debate with the Coalition over family electricity bills."