Matt Kean has doubled down on his praise of energy privatisation, reigniting concerns that the sale of Essential Energy could be next.
 
The Liberal Energy Minister touted the ‘benefits’ of energy privatisation in a media release today.
 
It comes after Matt Kean and Dominic Perrottet appeared at odds over privatisation.
 
It also comes as Origin warned of a 20 per cent hike in prices by the middle of this year.
 
Kean’s credibility of privatisation  
 
Lifelong privatisation proponent Matt Kean suddenly shunned his ideological obsession earlier this election campaign following questions on whether the NSW Liberals would sell Sydney Water.
 
The denial placed him at odds with the Premier.
 
He also previously denied the Liberals would sell Essential Energy.
 
Today, he loves privatisation again.
 
Liberals record on privatisation
 
The Liberals ruled out privatising the WestConnex project before the 2019 election, then immediately began the process of selling it off afterwards.
 
In 2013, they sold Eraring Power station for $50 million and are now contemplating buying it back for five times the price.  
 
The Liberals have sold over $90 billion in state assets since 2011.
 
And with a $50 billion infrastructure black hole, there are concerns they will resort to more privatisation to cover it.
 
Kean in denial on energy price crisis
 
Kean appears in complete denial of the energy price crisis in NSW, asserting in the same media release that prices are lower.
 
The reality is, energy prices are up almost 40 per cent since 2015 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics consumer price index data.
 
Customers of Endeavour Energy (including Western Sydney) paid $200 a year more than they should be, and over $100 a year for those in Ausgrid areas, while those in government owned Essential Energy areas paid a mere $10 additional a year.
 
Quotes attributable to Jihad Dib, NSW Shadow Minister for Energy:
 
“It looks as if Matt Kean is laying down the “supposed” case for the future privatisation of Essential Energy.
 
“Given their previous track record, people could be forgiven for being sceptical of the Liberals’ denials of further privatisation.
 
“They’ve broken their promises on privatisation before, and they have every reason to do it again.
 
“There are very real concerns the Liberals will sell Essential Energy.
 
“Matt Kean must live in a parallel universe if he’s trying to convince people that energy prices have gone down. He can use whatever spin he likes, but the fact of the matter is, people are paying more since privatisation.”

JIHAD DIB MP 
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE