Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Margaret Cooney: Octopus Energy Chief Operating Officer on the new Electricity Authority rules for generators

Transcript

Margaret Cooney: Octopus Energy Chief Operating Officer on the new Electricity Authority rules for generators · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: More tweaks for our electricity sector. As you've struggled to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: warm your home up this morning, juice is freezing out there.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Big four gentailors have to sellp pout everyone at the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: same price, not just themselves. Energy Minister Simon Watts reckons
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: it'll level the playing field and bring prices down. Eventually
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we'll see. Margaret Keoney is Octopus Energy chief operating officer
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: with us this morning, Margaret, good morning, good morning. Will
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: this lower prices?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Look? I think the idea behind this, which is that
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the big four gentailors need to deal with competing terms
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: on a level playing field, is really important that what
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: we're concerned about is how it's executed. So the idea
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: at the moment is to put this in as principles.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I know from dealing with my four year old that
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I final leave a bag of lollies in front of him,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: you'll eventually go and grab the lollies. So I think
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we need more than just principles. We need some robust
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: rules to ensure that discrimination doesn't keep happening, because ultimately
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: that really damages competition, which leads to a lack of
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: responsiveness in the market, which leads to a lack of investment,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: which ultimately impacts the prices for end consumers.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Do they need to grow some balls, Margaret?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: There's one way of putting it. But I think there
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: are some solutions that they can pick up quite easily
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and implement. But it requires some decisiveness and it also helpful.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Because the thing is, I mean you look at the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: super peak hedge contracts that they've talked about. Yesterday in
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: August they came out and they said, let's do this
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: voluntary thing. Didn't work. Now that gent tailors must offer
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: minimum quantities. But then if that doesn't work, then they
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: might face regulation. I mean, it all sounds a bit
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: spiders ways, doesn't it. Well.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: I think this is the thing. We've had lots of
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: small iterative steps and I think it would be good
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: to get to the nub of some of these issues,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and something which addresses the structural elements would be helpful.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And so I think with the frontier of you going on,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: there's this opportunity for government to use that to make
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: sure that the settings work really well rather than doing
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: lots of little tinkers are here and there.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: What's the big nuclear option? Is it splitting up the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: gen Taylor's.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: So I think one of there won't be a single
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: silver bullet to this, but one of the things that
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: we've suggested is basically requiring these large players to operate
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: their retail and generation businesses at arms link because part
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: of the problem at the moment has been a real
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: lack of transparency around the trading behavior, and so that
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: would help resolve that, and then if those businesses are
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: behaving in the market, it will help stimulate all of
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: that investment that's sitting in the pipeline with independent generators
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and things. Additionally, we think we're in such an acute
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: energy shortage that actually the government should look at doing
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: something immediately like a tender for new generation to come
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: into market more quickly. We think there needs to be
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: this comprehensive set of actions, and the access conditions for
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: the market is one ingredient.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: For it, rather than more tinkering around the edges. Margaret,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Margaret Kearney, Octopus Energy, Chief
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Operating Office. For more from Early edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Listen live to new Talks it'd be from five am
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: weekdays
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.