Government should lead by requiring Departments to immediately start conserving electricity

”The wholesale electricity crisis is of such importance to the economy that we believe the Government should immediately require Departments to start conserving electricity,” said Terrence Currie of the Major Electricity Users’ Group (MEUG). An immediate start to energy savings could also mean that more severe action may not be necessary in later months.

“In the winter 2001 crisis the Government appealed to Government Departments to save 15% of their power demand over 10 weeks, and asked the general public to save 10%. This leadership by the Government was valuable in demonstrating to the public that there was a crisis and that the Government was doing more than its fair share. The same situation holds this year, except rather than the crisis starting in winter as it did in 2001, this year the crisis is starting in autumn. The consequences to the economy may therefore be greater than the estimated $200 million loss in GDP in 2001; hence the need for Government to lead a voluntary savings campaign as quickly as possible. There appear to be few if any downsides from taking a ‘precautionary approach.’

“MEUG has today emailed the Minister of Energy and other key Ministers making this suggestion so it can be considered at Mondays Cabinet meeting,” concluded Mr Currie.

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