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The privatisation of Australian electricity: Claims, myths and facts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Lynne Chester
Lynne Chester*
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney, Australia
*
Lynne Chester, Department of Political Economy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: lynne.chester@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

Australia has one of the most ‘liberalised’ electricity sectors in the world. The sale of government-owned electricity companies has contributed to that liberalisation and a quarter of the proceeds of one of the world’s largest privatisation programmes. In 2014, the state governments of New South Wales and Queensland announced further electricity privatisations if re-elected. Advocates claim private ownership will mean more productive investment, lower costs leading to more efficient operations, lower prices for all consumers and better market functioning without government interference. Opponents contend that the true value of government businesses is not being realised at sale, retention can achieve returns greater than those from a sale, and that follow sale, prices will rise and jobs will be lost. This article demonstrates that the claims of either lower or higher prices, of job losses and of more efficient operations are tantamount to being myths of privatisation not borne out by reality.

Keywords

L33L50L94Australiaelectricityprivatisation
Type
Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 218 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015

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