The Victorian government has taken a step forward with one of its key election promises, to revive the State Electricity Commission (SEC) to help reach reach the state’s renewable energy goals.
The SEC was the driving forced behind Victoria’s energy network for 70 years, prior to its privatisation in the 1990s.
Premier Jacinta Allan has announced the SEC is “officially back”, laying out the government’s energy plan for the next decade.
“Spring has come for the SEC after a long, cold winter,” she said.
“We’re not simply thawing it out after 30 years or stitching back together the parts that were chopped up or sold back in the 90s, instead we have bigger plans for our people-powered energy future”
Labor wants to power all government buildings, including hospitals, schools, and police stations, with renewable energy by 2025.
The government says the SEC will also be a “one-stop shop” to help Victorians switch from fossil fuels, with a pilot program starting in 2024.
“We know too that many people have been put off electrifying their homes by the complexity and the cost,” Ms Allan said.
“Victorians who go all-electric could save up to 60 per cent on their power bills while lowering emissions.”
In 1918, the Victorian Parliament passed a bill to establish the Victorian Electricity Commission, with a view to exploiting the state’s brown coal reserves and build power infrastructure.
The government wanted to free the state from its reliance on imported fuel.
The commission later became the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1921, with Sir John Monash as its chairman and general manager.
Its first order of business was to build the Yallourn Power Station.
Back in November 2022, Daniel Andrews said the reformation of the SEC would create nearly 60,000 jobs and the revived body would be centred on Morwell in the Latrobe Valley, “making sure this community and its proud region are at the heart of our clean energy future”.
The government today said that job figure would include 6,000 traineeships and apprenticeships.
There’s no further information yet about the nature of those jobs, or where they could be based.
Australian billionaire and renewable energy proponent mike Cannon-Brookes welcomed the government’s pledge.
“There’s no doubt that this transition isn’t going to be solved by philanthropy alone or investment alone. When we say it’s going to take everybody, it’s going to take everybody,” he said,
“The strategies and thoughts behind the SEC seem very comprehensive, they seem ahead of most other states, which is excellent.”
(ABC)
