FEATURES

Power price win for growers

Following years of lobbying from CANEGROWERS and other farm groups, the Queensland Competition Authority has confirmed a new electricity tariff which promises to save irrigators money.

It’s called T34 and it will be available as a primary tariff to farmers from 1 November. The tariff offers a lower usage charge of 17.295 c/kWh and a daily fixed charge of $1.18081 per day (ex-GST) on the understanding that supply could be interrupted at any time. “This is a victory for irrigators,” CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan said. “CANEGROWERS has been calling for a suite of agricultural electricity tariffs capped at 16c/kWh and T34 is close to that mark.

“But I urge growers to carefully assess if T34 is right for them to ensure their business can benefit from a lower price for power but also not be affected by the risk of service delivery interruptions.” Bundaberg grower Mark Pressler was part of a joint trial of the control load tariff run by CANEGROWERS and Energy Queensland and says he was impressed. “The tariff delivered some worthwhile cost savings for my business and the service interruptions were manageable,” he said. “I’m looking forward to Ergon finalising its plan to send us text notifications so we know ahead of time when the power might be cut.” The QCA has found indicative annual savings for typical users moving to T34 from other irrigation tariffs of $768 moving from T62, $1,116 moving from T65 and $2,487 moving from T66. Read more about T34 in Warren Male's (Head - Economics CANEGROWERS) article on Load Control Tariffs on page 41.

WATER PRICE RELIEF IMMINENT

Irrigators using water from state-owned schemes are set to be better off regardless of the outcome of the 31 October Queensland election.

In the final week of the campaign, the Labor Party promised a 15% cut in water charges for sugarcane growers and other broadacre farmers and a 50% cut for fruit and vegetable producers. The Liberal National Party had earlier committed to a cut in water costs of up to 20% through a change in the underlying fundamentals of the water pricing system. CANEGROWERS has welcomed the acknowledgement of both major parties that water is a critical but costly input for the future agriculture in Queensland. Both commitments approach the long-held position of CANEGROWERS that water prices need to come down by 20%. However, both proposals raise questions and CANEGROWERS will work through those with whichever party forms government. 