Energy supply industry urges WA government to abandon re-merger

The energy supply industry has continued to urge the WA government not to allow the re-merger of Verve Energy and Synergy, following an Economic Regulation Authority (ERA) report that said the re-merger would not address the real drivers of rising energy costs.

The report was welcomed by Energy Supply Association of Australia (esaa) Chief Executive Matthew Warren, who said it reflects the industry’s concerns.

“A re-merger will be bad for business and bad for consumers in WA and won’t make power cheaper,” Warren said. “It would mean less competition, increasing costs in the system, which is definitely not what households dealing with big power bills need right now.”

“The real drivers of price rises are the rising cost of fuel, higher network charges to maintain reliability and the costs of complying with renewable energy policies - none of which are addressed by re-merging Verve Energy and Synergy.”

Warren claims that opening up the electricity market to competition and attracting more private investment in the WA energy sector is the best way for the government to help consumers.