Tuesday 7 June 2011
VOL 4. No 23
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
Bellarine Times
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Portarlington is gearing up ffor its biggest weekend off the year as the National C Celtic Festival gets set to take over the town from Friday to Monday. National and international guests will join local performers for a celebration of all things Celtic. Perfecting their skills were sisters, Jane and Caitlin Martin, who are part of the Ceilidh band from the Christian College Geelong. The girls were pictured with festival director, Una McAlinden, and local artist, Susan Ardern, who designed the artwork for the festival. See pages 18 and 19 for more on the festival.
POWER PLAN Photo: MICHAEL CHAMBERS
BY DAVID FINLAYSON
PORTARLINGTON is fighting back against spiraling power costs with a plan to use the might of bulk buying to save hundreds of dollars a year on home electricity bills. In an innovative move, Portarlington residents are being asked to be part of a collective bargaining scheme to get the best possible price from electricity retailers. A similar scheme at Somers on the Mornington Peninsula is said to have saved households between $100 and $600 a year. Information about the scheme will be distributed to the community in coming days by the Portarlington Community Association. Association secretary, John Rae, said Portarlington had a high population of retired residents on pensions
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and fixed incomes who were hard hit by skyrocketing power bills. “The media has been reporting energy prices have increased by 40 per cent in the last three years,” Rae said. “Now whether that’s true or not, the way people’s bills are going up is a very big subject around town. “We’ve had a fabulous reaction from those who have heard that we are contemplating doing this.” The association needs a minimum of 200 people to go ahead with the scheme. That number would enable a broker to be engaged by the association to negotiate with power retailers for the best bulk price. “The more we get the more attractive it is for the energy companies to bid,” Rae said. “So this is purely expressions-of-interest that we are seeking at this stage; we’re not asking people to sign up yet.”
PCA’s John Rae, John Turner and Sarah Crisp are leading the power fight.
Rae said people with holiday residences in Portarlington, or second properties elsewhere, would also benefit. “You can include more than one property and they
both don’t have to be in Portarlington,” Rae said. He said the association would contract the broker who negotiated the arrangement for the Somers community association. “If the community support is sufficient we would expect to have things in place within a few months,” Rae said. Under the Somers arrangement households were locked into the deal for 24 months. Rae said people would have the option of breaking the deal for a fee if they wished. Rae said the Portarlington Bendigo Community Bank had been supportive, funding the production and distribution of an information brochure and registration-of-interest form. Portarlington residents will receive the brochure and form in the next edition of The Port Report newsletter.
WED 4-6ft+ solid SSW 14° THU 4-6ft+ solid S 14° FRI 2-4ft easing S 14° SAT 1-2ft+ small S 14°
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