Thursday 2 June 2022 03:34 AM Australians face power and gas outages amid biggest energy crisis in 50 YEARS ... trends now
Millions of Australians face gas and power shortages over the next 24 hours amid a bitter cold snap that is depleting the country's energy supplies.
In an emergency call on Wednesday, the Australian Energy Market Operator informed more than 100 industry operators that Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania face a massive shortfall of gas.
The regulator also said New South Wales and Queensland are staring down the barrel of a possible electricity grid fail, The Australian reported.
The Australian government will consider calls to introduce price caps on gas and electricity as the nation is hit by the worst energy crisis in 50 years.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has choked global oil and gas supplies sending prices soaring but a 'perfect storm' of factors are also exacerbating the problem.
Coal fired power plants are operating at lower capacity while renewable energy generation drops to a seasonal low at a time when the east coast is being hit with plummeting temperatures brought on by a weather phenomenon dubbed the 'polar blast'.
Vulnerable Australian families could 'freeze to death' electricity prices surge amid a bitter cold snap, St Vincent de Paul has warned. Pictured: Pedestrians brave the cold in Sydney
The crisis comes amid warnings vulnerable Australian families could 'freeze to death' this winter as the cost of electricity and gas coupled with rising interest rates, fuel and supermarket prices is forcing many to choose between paying rent, putting food on the table and staying warm.
'If the winter chill is maintained there are going to be significant health implications when people start to struggle to pay their heating bills,' St Vincent de Paul policy and research manager Gavin Dufty told Daily Mail Australia.
'We are calling for the government to step in and keep essential energy affordable and to make sure those people are not disconnected during this time.'
Energy industry figures have also pleaded with the newly sworn in Labor government to take 'unprecedented' steps to ease the rising costs.
Wholesale power prices soared by a massive 141 per cent in the year to March and the freezing temperatures in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra this week have triggered a forecast gas spike 50 times normal levels from $10 a gigajoule to $800.
The Australian government will consider calls to introduce price caps on gas and electricity as the nation is hit by the worst energy crisis in five decades - as the rate of inflation soars to 5.1 per cent. Pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Andrew Richards, chief executive of the Energy Users Association of Australia, called
for price caps and curbs on export to be brought in.
'It is pretty rough on the incoming federal government, most of which was sworn in yesterday, but we are facing probably the biggest energy crisis in 50 years,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'I think [these measures] need to be on the table.'
Treasurer Jim
