Record investment for energy entities

Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson today tabled the annual reports of seven Queensland government-owned energy entities that revealed another record year of capital expenditure.

The energy-related bodies invested a record $2.59 billion in capital expenditure in the 2005-06 financial year.

“The record level of investment is set to continue with the Queensland Government and its energy entities budgeting $2.856 billion in capital expenditure on the state’s electricity supply this financial year,” Mr Wilson said.

“Along with record investment, there were outstanding work-related performances by the GOCs in 2005-06.

“Ergon Energy and Powerlink rose to the challenge when Cyclone Larry struck far north Queensland earlier this year.

“Ergon Energy’s $42.5 million response to Cyclone Larry is a prime example of the ethos of ‘putting the customer first’. The State Government encourages that sort of commitment in all of its energy corporations,” Mr Wilson said.

The Minister paid tribute to the work of ENERGEX and the large number of private contractors that helped Ergon Energy and Powerlink respond to the emergency.

Other highlights of annual reports include:

• The high performance by ENERGEX in its call centre operations. It created an almost 10-fold boost to its call-handling capacity and was recognised for setting international benchmarks
• Powerlink’s $1.2 billion in projects approved or underway that will help meet an expected increase in state-wide peak electricity demand of 25 percent over the next five years
• Tarong Power Station saving up to 2,800 megalitres of water a year (over 10%) through water conservation

Mr Wilson said the energy entities were on track and on target to meet the challenges of Queensland’s population boom.

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