Wednesday, 16 October 2024

State Electricity Commission of Victoria

Report 2022–23

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (17:39): I rise today to speak on the State Electricity Commission of Victoria’s annual report 2022–23. It is a particularly apt time to speak on this report as many in this house will remember that just over a month ago we voted to enshrine the SEC in the Victorian constitution, and just yesterday in the other place the Allan Labor government members finalised this process and officially gave the State Electricity Commission constitutional protection. This will protect the commission from privatisation by those opposite and for all the many generations of Victorians to come. Through the constitutionally protected SEC we are returning power to Victorian hands and we are driving down energy bills, and that is because Victorians deserve nothing less. The SEC will be a one-stop shop for all Victorians looking to electrify and slash their bills. The SEC will begin piloting simple and effective solutions to make it easier to electrify your home and help Victorian households to reduce their energy bills and emissions too. The SEC will deliver more affordable, more reliable renewable energy owned by Victorians, with every cent of profit being reinvested into the SEC. We are putting an initial $1 billion towards the delivery of 4.5 gigawatts of power through new renewable energy and storage projects. That is enough to power more than 1.5 million homes, and this is only the beginning.

Even as we set up the 100 per cent publicly owned SEC the market is investing strongly in Victoria, ensuring that 95 per cent of our generation will be from renewables by 2035 and we will hit net zero by 2045, the most ambitious targets from any mainland state. The annual report relates to the activities of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 2022–23, which is the body that will be replaced by the new SEC. The report does not relate to the establishment or activities of the new SEC, but it will be helpful to provide us a comparison point when I report, undoubtedly, on the new SEC in the future.

The original SEC, as the honourable member for South Eastern Metropolitan might remember, was established back in 1918 as a statutory body responsible for the generation and distribution of electricity throughout the state. This body, called the SECV, still exists a statutory entity under the Former SEC (Residual Provisions) Act 1958. However, following its disaggregation and privatisation by those opposite in the 1990s, ongoing activities have generally been limited to the management of legacy assets, the liabilities and the information requests. We have much bigger and better plans for the SEC, which is why I was so proud to play a part in giving it constitutional protection in September.

As we now move to bring the SEC back to its former glory, supporting working Victorians to access renewable energy and slash their energy bills, I am happy to relay to the house that this report reflects a strong foundation from which to build. The report shows that the current SECV is operating at a nearly $5 million accumulated surplus, and it invested nearly $300,000 in the 2022–23 financial year in operating costs to support Victorians via its legacy assets. This is what the SEC can do, despite the attempts by some opposite to completely gut its operations. I cannot wait to see how a revised SEC under the Allan Labor government will deliver cost-saving renewables for working Victorians.