The Minerals Council,whose membership includes coal miners BHP,Glencore and Whitehaven,has said it will wage a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz against price caps on coal,akin to the resource sector’s $22 million campaign in 2010 that was credited with killing off the Rudd government’s proposed resources rent tax.
However,the Albanese government has been told by the federal Treasury that the unprecedented move of capping both coal and gas prices is a warranted measure to drive down electricity bills.
Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constablesaid earlier this month that “coal is not the problem here and it is misleading to suggest otherwise”.
Constable argued it wasn’t a shortage of coal or high prices internationally that sent prices soaring in June,and blamed mechanical failures at coal plants. The Minerals Council has argued that most coal plants buy their fuel under long-term contracts from mines that are dedicated to domestic supply and therefore their prices have not risen due to the international market.
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But the Australian Energy Regulator,which oversees the east coast electricity market and is a statutory adviser to the federal government,has stated rising international demand and prices for Australian coal,which this year hit record highs above $US400 a tonne,can also have a significant impact on wholesale electricity prices.
The prices of coal and gas have soared due to a global energy crunch caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine and electricity bills will worsen in the next two years,the regulator said in its quarterly report this month.