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March 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda 
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell plans to shake up the electricity sector.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
THE O’Farrell government today will announce its biggest initiative to reduce the cost of crippling power bills. The government will merge the state’s electricity distributors into one company, saving $100 million a year and cutting bills for struggling families.
Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy will be grouped together, eliminating the need for separate boards and expensive layers of management, Energy Minister Chris Hartcher will announce today.
Initial savings will be passed on to the 700,000 electricity customers who receive the Low Income Household Rebate, which will rise to $215 from July 1 and $235 by 2014.
And a $75 Family Energy Rebate for 540,000 middle-class families on incomes up to $150,000 will be introduced.
But Mr Hartcher said bigger savings would be passed on to all 3.2 million consumers as the reform uncovered inefficiency and duplication.
Energy chiefs are NSW’s highest-paid public servants. Ausgrid boss George Maltabarow earned $882,688 in 2011 and Endeavour Energy’s Vince Graham $736,000.The three boards of directors presiding over the energy companies would be cut to one and the government will dump many of the union officials and mates it believes are obstructing energy reform.
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Government sources expect union opposition to job losses from the restructuring.
Premier Barry O’Farrell said: “I know families, particularly in Western Sydney are doing it tough, that’s why my government is taking action to ease the cost of living.”
Mr Hartcher said the changes would significantly reduce the ability of the three businesses to “gold-plate” their networks through unnecessary investment. The model would cut administration and corporate costs by standardising operations. He said there would be no cuts to front-line services or front-line jobs. The merger will begin on July 1 and follows six months’ work by the Electricity Network Reform Taskforce.
Mr Hartcher formed the taskforce to crack down on waste and mismanagement in the electricity industry, on suggestions the average household bill could hit $2300 by 2014.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed last year that an O’Farrell government intended to merge the three companies and introduce energy rebates for 1.4 million families. The companies have been accused of “gold-plating” their electricity networks and passing the costs on to consumers through higher prices.
The average household bill has risen 37 per cent in the past five years, with the network component increasing by 10 per cent a year in that time.
Consumers face rises of up to 10 per cent from July 1 as well, with the federal carbon tax feared to cost 10 per cent on top of that.
In NSW, disconnections rose 17 per cent to 18,651 during 2010-11 as families struggled to meet energy costs.
Mr Hartcher admitted electricity bills had increased sharply in recent years, with more pain to come. He said this reform would benefit all consumers.
“Over time, the reforms will place downward pressure on prices for all consumers – for families, for business, for retailers – by minimising the cost of delivering electricity to homes and businesses in NSW,” Mr Hartcher said.
“The fact is that electricity bills have increased sharply in recent years and the experts tell us that there is more pain to come.
“The cost of distributing electricity – the network costs – accounts for more than half of the increase in household electricity bills.”
“Although we can’t change the increases heading our way thanks to federal Labor’s carbon tax, we are doing everything we can to cushion the blow by reducing the cause of price rises from network costs,” Mr Hartcher said.
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