Press conference with Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson, Parliament House, Canberra

CHRIS BOWEN: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming. Australia is absolutely leading the world when it comes to the battery rollout.

We are leading on home batteries, with more home batteries being installed in Australia than effectively any other country in the world. We’re doing very well with big batteries as well. We are the third-biggest market for batteries in the world, after China and the United States, and the biggest by far per head of population.

But we need to do more. Batteries are so important because they take that cheap renewable energy in the middle of the day and put it to work for Australia at night, reducing energy bills for homes with batteries and without batteries. That’s particularly the case with big batteries, which reduce energy bills for everyone.

Today, we’re announcing the next stage in our rollout of big batteries, with the latest Capacity Investment Scheme auction results supporting enough battery storage to power 3.7 million homes for four hours. I’ll invite Assistant Minister Wilson to add more detail about this announcement. The Capacity Investment Scheme continues to work to roll out cheaper renewable energy for all Australians.

Our opponents say the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, and that’s true. But the rain doesn’t always fall either. We store rain in dams across the country, and we can store renewable energy in batteries across the country and put it to work for Australians.

That’s exactly what we’re doing. I’ll invite Josh to add to this announcement, and then we’ll take questions. Josh.

JOSH WILSON: Thanks, Chris. As Minister Bowen says, we continue to make progress in Australia’s energy transition towards cleaner and cheaper energy for all Australians, and towards our potential as a renewable energy superpower and clean industry powerhouse. Today, we announce the results of Tender 8 under the Capacity Investment Scheme, which was designed to deliver four gigawatts of dispatchable energy.

It has been a successful tender, with 73 bids and 15 successful projects selected right across the eastern seaboard, from Queensland down to South Australia. Four gigawatts over four hours is 16 gigawatt hours of storage. That adds to Australia’s position as one of the leading battery nations in the world and will contribute to bringing down energy prices.

We’ve seen that over the past 12 months, with batteries becoming the fastest-growing source of energy entering the system. Batteries are setting the market price more often than any other source of energy. That’s thanks to the work of the Albanese Government in every dimension: big batteries through Tender 8 and Tender 10, which we opened yesterday as another dispatchable energy tender; community batteries right around the country; and, of course, the home and small and medium business battery revolution through the Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

That program is getting close to 450,000 batteries within its first 12 months and has, by itself, added 13 gigawatt hours of storage. The results bring the things Australians want to see: lower prices, more self-sufficiency and choice when it comes to their own energy circumstances, and the cleaner energy transition Australians expect as we move further into the 21st century.

The first quarter of this year saw coal make its lowest contribution to our energy system on record, while gas fell to a 28-year low in terms of the contribution it makes. All these things are part of that energy transformation. It’s a massive enterprise, supported very strongly by households and businesses around Australia.

The Albanese Government is leaning into that as we make measured progress towards our potential. CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Josh. JOURNALIST: Mr Bowen, on the referral of the energy retailers to the regulator, can you tell us the costs associated with these increases and where in Australia you’re seeing them?

CHRIS BOWEN: Energy prices are coming down, and that’s a very good thing. The Default Market Offer made that clear. Now, the Default Market Offer doesn’t apply to everyone, of course.

Companies have to comply with the Default Market Offer for their relevant default offers, but they don’t have to apply it to all their market offers. We’ve seen some companies, not all, far from it, choose to increase their fixed supply costs while reducing their per-kilowatt-hour costs. What I’ve asked the regulators to do is look at that and ensure it complies, particularly with the prohibited misconduct provisions in energy market laws, which require companies to pass on sustained reductions in energy costs through their bills.

I’ve also asked them to look at the way companies are communicating these changes. I’m sure the regulators will do that very thoroughly. As I said, energy bills are coming down.

I welcome that, of course. Companies have told me that, even with the increase in fixed costs, most of their customers will experience a reduction, and I welcome that. I’ve seen one example where a small business on average usage, even though there has been a very substantial increase in its fixed cost, will still receive a reduction because its per-kilowatt-hour cost has come down.

But I have asked the regulators to look at those increases to make sure they comply, particularly with the prohibited misconduct provisions in energy market laws. As I said, those laws require energy companies to pass on sustained reductions in energy costs through bills, while allowing them some flexibility in how they do that. That’s what you’d expect.

JOURNALIST: So, you’re saying it’s a communication issue from energy providers? I received an email saying my prices would go up, but you’re saying they’re reducing. CHRIS BOWEN: I’ve asked the regulator to look at both the substance and the communication.

As I said, it’s important. I understand these fixed-cost increases have caused a lot of concern. People have raised them with me, quite rightly, and I’ve raised them with energy companies.

I think the right people to look at whether the law has been complied with, in spirit and letter and in every sense, are the regulators. They are already talking to the companies. Not every company has done this.

I’ve seen bills where the fixed cost has not gone up and the kilowatt-hour cost has come down. I’ve seen some where the fixed cost has gone up a little bit. I’ve seen some where there have been big increases in fixed costs and reductions in the per-kilowatt-hour charge.

The Default Market Offer is very clear. There are reductions, small in some cases and quite substantial in others, across the board. There is a very small increase in South Australia and reductions everywhere else.

My expectation is that they are passed on. Again, the Default Market Offer applies only to default offers, not to other market or nonstanding offers. But the prohibited misconduct laws apply to everyone.

I want to be reassured by the regulators that those laws are being complied with in spirit and letter. I think that’s appropriate. The regulators will now do their job.

JOURNALIST: Where is this happening around the country, and what is the dollar value of these small, medium and large increases in fixed costs? Obviously, it will vary from bill to bill, but do you have a general sense? CHRIS BOWEN: It will vary from bill to bill.

I see most people getting reductions, even with the increase in supply costs. What I’m concerned to ensure is that those reductions apply fairly. People who don’t use much electricity are obviously more affected by an increase in fixed costs and less affected by a reduction in the kilowatt-hour cost.

If you’re a bigger electricity user, such as a large family, it’s vice versa. I just want reassurance from the regulators that they’re satisfied companies are doing the right thing. As you said, some companies have increased fixed costs.

Origin is probably the biggest example, but some companies haven’t. Red Energy and Lumo, by and large, haven’t. It’s not automatic that this has to happen.

Companies have chosen to do it. I want to ensure that, in doing so, they have complied with the law. JOURNALIST: Just on the Capacity Investment Scheme again, today you’re talking about batteries, but it’s widely acknowledged that the wind projects in the scheme, especially in the first tender, are struggling to reach financial close.

What is the Government doing about that? Are you negotiating with some of these projects to change their contracts? What’s the status?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, we’ve considered our options, and no, we won’t be doing that. The economics of wind are more challenging. That’s publicly recognised.

The economics of wind have recently been more challenging than the economics of solar, and that’s a global situation, including in Australia. If a company is not able to comply with what it told the Government it would do when it won its auction, it is welcome to withdraw and bid again with new economics, and we’ll consider that. But we won’t be renegotiating things that have previously been agreed.

JOURNALIST: So that’s a no to those projects that have come back to you? They have to withdraw and bid again, basically? CHRIS BOWEN: JOURNALIST: Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says we’re currently in a housing market correction.

Would you agree with that assessment? CHRIS BOWEN: I agree with Minister O'Neill. JOURNALIST: Can I ask Josh Wilson about another matter?

There are reports of an on-field indiscretion in local soccer and that you’ve received a five-match ban. What happened? JOSH WILSON: Look, I’m not sure how much I really want to go into the details of my weekend sporting activities.

But yes, I’m a committed sports player, like lots of Australians, and I play subject to the rules of the game and the rules of the league, like all Australians. I’ve played outdoor football for Fremantle City and, before that, UWA, which was the club I was playing against a few weeks ago when this incident occurred. It’s the first red card I’ve ever received.

I accept, without dispute, that it comes with a mandatory suspension as a result of receiving a red card. I regret the incident. I don’t play sport for the argy-bargy.

I play sport for the teamwork, camaraderie, fitness and all the rest of it. But I’m like every Australian. I play according to the rules and the requirements of the league.

JOURNALIST: Five weeks sounds pretty significant. JOSH WILSON: It’s a standard suspension. Everybody who plays football knows that when you get a red card, you get a week.

If it’s a red card that involves a bit of contretemps or a bit of “afters”, as some people say, it’s another four weeks on top of that. It’s a very standard suspension. There are lots of suspensions like that in the Football West league.

I’m disappointed. I apologised to the UWA guys who came back for a beer at the Fremantle City clubrooms after the game. I’m also sorry that I left my team in the lurch.

It was a pretty early incident. My guys, on a very stormy Sunday, had to play close to 75 minutes one person down, 10 against 11, and we lost 3–2. But I’m like millions of Australians.

I love playing sport. I’m a left back and I play wholeheartedly. I accept that the rules of the game that apply to everyone also apply to me.

CHRIS BOWEN: Anything else? JOURNALIST: Mr Bowen, the New South Wales Opposition has today announced a new energy policy that partly involves a significant scaling back of the New England Renewable Energy Zone and the creation of a new Outback Renewable Energy Zone. What do you think of the plan?

CHRIS BOWEN: I won’t go into the details because I’ll leave that to Penny Sharpe. I’ll just say this: there’s a tradition of bipartisanship in New South Wales when it comes to supporting renewable energy. The Renewable Energy Zones started under the Berejiklian Government, with Matt Kean as minister.

I would encourage the New South Wales Liberal Party to continue in that spirit. The New England Renewable Energy Zone was started by a Coalition government, and I’m surprised that a prospective Coalition government would go back on that. I would encourage the New South Wales Liberal Party to continue in the spirit of its predecessors in office, when Penny Sharpe supported Matt Kean and his energy roadmap.

That was a good thing. I do think the fact the New South Wales Liberal Party supports renewable energy at all shows just how out of touch the federal Liberal Party is. I’m grateful to Dan Tehan for showing every day that he doesn’t get renewable energy.

He doesn’t support the cheapest form of energy known to humankind and is so out of touch with mainstream thinking across Australia, including within state Liberal parties. Thanks, guys. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.