[EVENT] Australia moves to cut overspending and reduce electricity costs

Energy prices in Australia are infamously high, and their dearness costs Australians thousands every day. This needs to change if we wants to be on par with our global peers, and for that to happen one thing needs to be eliminated - overspending on network infrastructure. Multiple sources have confirmed the concerning impact that it has on energy prices, making up 45-60% of energy costs despite the huge amount of infrastructure we already have.

This has been driven by a number of factors including loose regulation and poor business practices, but the most important is the policy of pay-by-assets. Effectively, the government guarantees a profit on construction projects undertaken by companies. This has predictably led to unrealistic projections of energy needs, and Australia's high reliability standards have muddied the issue by demanding even more investment to ensure continued service.

Over the past year, a major change has been made that allows us to ditch the overspending - the installation of energy storage facilities across the country. As control moves to substations rather than generators, a level of assurance has been given to energy supply that more than meets the stringent requirements. The system has already proven its ability with irregular solar and wind power generation, and is now established enough to guarantee the reliability of our grid.

With our goals met, the Australian government is free to end end pay-by-assets once and for all. Starting now, we will scale back the overspending on infrastructure and adopt a more research-driven and parctical approach to investment. The National Commission for Energy Infrastructure (NECI) will be formed to provide constantly-updated statistics instead of the five-year reports that proved so unreliable, translate them into resource allocation and coordinate research into new technology.

Lower energy prices will benefit industry and private citizens alike. Projections by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that they will drop by as much as 34% with the changes, and the remaining revenue will be allocated far more effectively in storage capabilities and robust distribution systems. Along with storage capability, the emissions scheme and nuclear power, this action represents the government's commitment to achieve the goals set out in the 2026 Energy Act.