New South Wales Energy Reform

A secure, affordable, and reliable long term supply of electricity is vital to making sure the NSW economy, families and businesses can prosper and grow.

The Rees Government is taking every possible step to ensure that NSW has the strongest possible economic foundations. This means taking important decisions on electricity reform.

It’s more important than ever for the Government to act to remove barriers to private sector investment in NSW, like those that exist in the electricity industry.

NSW needs to develop new power stations to meet the State’s growing energy needs. Every dollar the NSW Government spends on power stations is a dollar less for spending on essential infrastructure and services like health, education and transport. The Government is implementing these measures so that from now on the private sector, rather than the Government, bears the investment burden for new power stations.

Currently, the private sector is reluctant to invest in the NSW electricity market because it is dominated by Government enterprises, so the Government’s goal is to create an environment where the private sector will have greater confidence to make the large investments necessary to build new power stations.

These proposals represent a unique and attractive strategic opportunity for private sector market participants to gain market share and presence in Australia’s biggest and most important electricity market. So the Government is confident this will be a well contested process.

The exit of Government from energy trading activities and a strong market presence by the private sector are essential pre-conditions to those same companies delivering investment in new power stations.

The Government’s plans also strike the right balance between securing future electricity supplies and looking after workers and families. The Government’s plans contain strong protections for electricity industry workers and continue price regulation for small customers until at least 2013.

Long term economic investment and growth in NSW requires a secure, affordable, and reliable supply of electricity. The Government’s plans will help deliver this for the people of NSW.

Information about the Government's energy reform plans will be placed on this website as it becomes available.

Date Modified:12-May-2009