Hydro Tasmania slammed for mainland discounting

While Tasmania is yet to introduce retail contestability for small business and retail customers, Hydro Tasmania’s retail subsidiary Momentum Energy is spruiking cheap power to supporters of sporting clubs in Victoria and NSW.
The ironic situation was highlighted this week at a budget estimates committee of the Tasmanian Parliament, where Liberal Energy spokesman Matthew Groom said it was “rank hypocrisy” for Momentum to be offering discounts on the mainland, but non in Tasmania where small businesses would cop a $420 average annual increase in power charges from July 1.
Groom said Tasmanian businesses were being denied a “competitive advantage.”
The recent expert panel report on Tasmanian electricity found that state-owned Hydro’s investments outside of the state had delivered very little in the way of direct financial returns for Tasmania.
It was also revealed at the estimates committee that another Hydro subsidiary Entura was close to investing up to $5 million in a hydro-electric dam project in southern Africa.