Former NSW treasurer and energy minister Matt Kean has been shut down over his comments that extending Australia’s largest coal-fired plan will cost taxpayers $3bn over two years.
His comments come as the NSW government is expected to soon release its response to the Electricity Supply and Reliability Check Up, which will assess the state’s power needs whether Eraring will need to continue operating past 2025.
Based in Lake Macquarie on the Central Coast, the Origin-energy owned coal-fired power station provides about 25 per cent of the state’s power needs.
On Monday, Mr Kean wrote an opinion piece for Nine newspapers in which he said a “leading energy expert” had “assured” him of the potential power bill.
The Hornsby MP wrote the Minns government was “warming up voters to the prospect of extending the life of the old Eraring coal-fired power station,” and said the move would “slow NSW’s energy transition”.
The claims have been rubbished by the now government, with both NSW Premier Chris Minns and Energy Minister Penny Sharpe questioning the validity behind the $3bn figure.
“He’s responsible for the fact that renewable energy production is delayed in NSW. It’s over budget and he didn’t tell anyone before the last election,” Mr Minns told reporters on Monday.
“Now he’s offering free and cheap advice from the sidelines.”
Ms Sharpe said Mr Kean’s intervention was an “unhelpful” dig at an issue that previously had bipartisan support.
“I’ve never seen that figure. I believe it’s unverified. It’s up to Mr Kean to explain,” she said.
“We are working very carefully to do really the three things that we need to do. Keep the lights on, keep pressure on prices for households and businesses as low as possible, and get renewable energy storage and transmission done by 2030.”
While the government said it would consider “all the options” around extending Eraring’s lifespan, Ms Sharpe reaffirmed its priority was on transitioning to renewable energies “as quickly as possible”.
“We’re looking at all the all the alternatives around renewable energy transmission and storage of which there are many,” she said.
“We’re also having the discussions about how we will work through any early retirement of coal fired power.”