Page 1235 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
THE CHIEF MINISTER
Question No 321
Natural Gas - Pricing Policy
Ms Follett - Asked the Minister for Finance and Urban Services upon notice on 13 December 1990:
(1) Is it true that the per-unit charge for natural gas in the ACT falls as consumption increases?
(2) What implications does this policy have for the environment and the preservation of non-renewable resources?
(3) Will the Minister act to prevent the use of a pricing policy designed to encourage resource use?
MR KAINE - the answer to the members question is as follows:
(1) & (2) It is appropriate that I respond to these questions because gas pricing and environment policy matters properly belong to my portfolio rather than that of the Minister for Finance and Urban Services.
Both gas and electricity utilities in Australia and overseas commonly use block tariffs which generally result in per unit charges declining by varying.amounts as consumption increases. These pricing structures, along with other price segmentation practices, are used for varying purposes including cost recovery, marketing, competitive pricing and the encouragement of efficient plant utilisation.
AGL Canberra Limited has block pricing structures for both its domestic and small-scale industrial and commercial customers. These structures are intended to encourage the quantity of natural gas consumed and therefore do have environmental and energy conservation consequences.
However, natural gas is only one of a range of fuels and other energy sources consumed in the ACT. Others include coal-, hydro- solar-generated electricity, oil, petrol, diesel and wood. These renewable and non-renewable energy sources are substitutable to varying degrees in either the non-transport or transport segments of the ACT energy market. This interdependence must be recognised when considering policy measures aimed at minimising adverse environmental effects.
Of the energy sources mentioned, natural gas is surpassed only by hydro- and solar-generated electricity as clean fuels with
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