Why Energy-Rich Australia Suffers the World’s Priciest Power. By Perry Williams.

A bungled transition from coal to clean energy has left resource-rich Australia with an unwanted crown: the highest power prices in the world.

New Yorkers pay half as much as Sydneysiders to keep the lights on, despite Australia boasting among the world’s largest coal and natural gas reserves, as well as ideal conditions for clean power generation. A decade of political dithering and climate policy missteps have set its patchwork power system adrift, ratcheting up manufacturing costs and hurting consumers with a doubling in electricity prices since last year and rising risks of blackouts. …

And all for a theory that turns out to be wrong. Our bungling elite never bothered to check the theory, whilst scornfully ignoring the contradictory evidence that was piling up. Incompetent and ideological.

Squabbling over climate policy has been a key contributor to political turmoil in Australia, which has changed prime ministers five times in the past decade.

The article is written by firm believers in the carbon dioxide theory, so they of course cannot understand why Australia hasn’t ditched coal for unreliables already.

Almost 90 percent of the A$88 billion forecast to be spent adding power capacity in Australia through 2040 will go toward clean energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It estimates less than 2 percent will be spent on coal, and even then only to refurbish existing plants, with the rest invested in gas.

See any vested interests?