Melissa Clarke: Power bills are a sore point for many Australians and a new report from the Climate Council has laid bare the key causes. It's found the unreliability of ageing coal-fired power stations and volatile international gas prices are the main drivers of expensive power bills. It's spurred debate about whether the federal government can accelerate the rollout of renewable energy and storage. Political reporterLexie Jeuniewic explains.
Lexie Jeuniewic : For Queenslander Bianca Sands, the quarterly power bill is proof the decision to install solar panels at her home over 15 years ago is paying off.
Bianca Sands: When we've received those zero bills or when we've received a cheque in the mail, and it literally has been a cheque in the mail for many years, I feel so grateful that we've been shielded from some of the rises in power prices and I know that it's a real struggle for many other families.
Lexie Jeuniewic : According to the Climate Council's new report, many Australian families and businesses are feeling power bill pain due to gas and ageing coal power stations firing up wholesale power prices. Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie.
Amanda McKenzie: While coal and gas are burning a hole in household budgets, renewable energy is the only real relief and to have more downward pressure in the future requires more renewables coming into our grid.
Lexie Jeuniewic : According to the federal government, renewables generate more than 40 per cent of electricity in Australia's two largest grids.
Amanda McKenzie: The government has a target of getting to 82 per cent renewables by the end of the decade. We think that should be accelerated out to near 100 per cent by 2035.
Lexie Jeuniewic : But the rise in costs of power bills is complex, driven in part by international factors and the cost of building transmission lines for renewables. The federal opposition has long argued that renewables are the cause of rising power prices. Still, how likely is it that we'd achieve almost complete renewable energy? Tony Wood is the Energy and Climate Change Senior Fellow at Grattan Institute.
Tony Wood: In some ways, the fact we're getting to 70 per cent or something like that is hugely important and we're making good progress. And I don't think not achieving 82 per cent should be considered a failure. But we need to be realistic about how much we can do here because I don't see too many opportunities yet for really accelerating even further the rollout of renewables because we're already having trouble with what we're doing now.
Lexie Jeuniewic : Andrew Blakers is a professor of engineering with the Australian National University. He's been studying solar energy for decades.
Andrew Blakers: It is absolutely a realistic call to accelerate the rollout of solar and wind. To a substantial degree, it depends on accelerating the transmission to bring that new solar and wind into the cities.
Lexie Jeuniewic : The Climate Council cites the federal government's home battery subsidy scheme as a good example of a shorter term fix to help protect households from future price shocks, but believes that more could be done for those renting or on a low income. Queensland homeowner Bianca Sands agrees.
Bianca Sands: For people who are in a lower income circumstance or maybe are in social housing, I think there's a lot more that the government could do to support all families.
Melissa Clarke: That's Queensland homeowner Bianca Sands ending that report from Lexie Jeuniewic.