1,000 signatures reached
To: Victorian & Federal Government
Build publicly-owned renewable energy
The profits and benefits of renewable energy should flow to all Victorians! Invest in publicly owned renewable energy so that Victorians' electricity supply isn't threatened by massive profit-seeking corporations. Public investment in renewables is a chance to address widening inequality between rich and poor by lowering cost of living expenses.
Why is this important?
In the first two weeks of March 2021 alone, energy retailers cut off the electricity to 1,000 Victorians who have fallen on hard times. Energy is an essential service; you can't find a new job with a flat phone battery.
We were promised privatisation would deliver lower cost energy - it hasn't. Instead, we have had cost blow outs, crumbling infrastructure, poor just transition planning for workers, and companies holding government to ransom to prop up their failing assets. Not to mention companies dragging their feet on a transition to clean energy sources.
With Victoria at an energy crossroads, now is the time to fix the mistake of privatisation by investing in publicly-owned renewables. Queensland has established CleanCo - their own publicly-owned renewable energy retailer, and we think Victoria deserves the same.
Further, the cold snap that caused the collapse of the entire energy system in Texas USA has shown us the problems of a fully market-driven, privatised electricity system. This must never happen here - we need a properly planned energy transformation in Victoria with public ownership a key plank of that plan.