21 July 2014
Call for ACCC probe as gas industry reels in gas price shock
Industrial energy users have called for a regulatory review of the gas supply industry as a price shock on the east coast threatens to strip nearly $160 billion and thousands of jobs from the manufacturing, mining and agriculture industry.
The impact of a tripling of gas prices to meet export parity is greater than those associated with the repeal of the carbon tax, according to a report by consultants Deloitte. It demands a government response to make the upstream gas industry more competitive, say the six industry bodies that commissioned the report.
They accused gas producers of withholding supply to wait for higher export prices, and called for an investigation by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission or the Productivity Commission into joint gas marketing arrangements, the depth, liquidity and competitiveness of the upstream domestic gas market, and gas infrastructure.
The group, which includes the Australian Aluminium Council, the Australian Steel Institute, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, the Energy Users Association and the Australian Industry Group, also wants governments to remove regulatory barriers to new gas production and the mandatory development and use-it-or-lose-it provisions for commercial gas supplies to prevent producers withholding supply.
Read more here