Victorians will get to pay for the Black Saturday bushfires through their electricity bills thanks to a decision by the Australian Energy Regulator.
SP-AusNet, manager of three energy networks in the state, is off the hook. Its share price is up today in the wake of the AER’s decision to allow it to ratchet up its prices beyond the regulated rate.
Readers would require a PhD in electrical engineering and a Masters degree in energy policy to make heads or tails of SP-AusNet’s statement to the ASX.
In essence, though, it says the AER has made a draft ruling which says if the company’s insurance is insufficient to pay it can raise prices.
SP-AusNet is the Singapore-owned provider of Victoria’s electricity transmission networks. The Victorian government is suing it for supply-line failures in its network on Black Saturday. SP-Ausnet has said it will defend the claim vigorously.
The Black Saturday bushfires raged through Victoria on Saturday, February 7, 2009, killing 173 people, injuring 414 and destroying 2030 homes.
AER and SP-Ausnet were not available for comment.
Earlier this year, SP AusNet agreed to pay $19.7 million in response to a class action on the Beechworth bushfire. Last month, the company said it would ”vigorously defend” itself in a $22 million class action taken by the Victorian government over the Kilmore East fire. The royal commission found that that conflagration, which killed 119 people, had been caused by ”electrical failure”.
With Madeleine Heffernan
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.