Our Managing Director, Danny Price, spoke with Steve Austin at ABC Brisbane on 03 September 2025. Steve wanted to ask the uncomfortable questions behind Australia’s soaring electricity prices, and about Danny's recent AFR Op-Ed: The stark lessons from ACCC approving Origin Energy’s $18.7b buyout.
Listen to Interview from 02:12:25
Here are key facts Danny shared:
Since May 2022, according to ABS data, the cumulative rise in electricity prices is 230% without taxpayer subsidies. Even after you include taxpayer subsidies, the cumulative rise in prices in 3 years is still 70%. In July alone, bills jumped 13% in one month. These aren’t my numbers — they’re from the ABS.
The energy market we once designed to deliver efficiency and competition has been undermined by constant government intervention. Investors now wait for taxpayer underwriting, and consumers foot the bill. Something has to change.
They also covered Danny's AFR OpEd which included commentary on the Brookfield takeover of Origin and the ACCC and other institution’s role in that saga. The ACCC admitted the Brookfield takeover of Origin would reduce competition — meaning higher prices, poorer service, and less innovation. Yet they waved it through anyway, trading away consumers’ interests for a vague renewable investment “commitment” that was always going to be underwritten by taxpayers.
When AustralianSuper blocked the takeover, workers’ retirement savings were protected. Today, those members are $1.4 billion better off. It shows what happens when you put long-term value and competition ahead of short-term politics.
The transition to cleaner energy is essential. But it should never come at “any cost”. Pretending otherwise is dishonest, and it risks destroying public trust altogether. Australians deserve regulators that protect them, markets that work, and an honest conversation about the trade-offs we face. Right now, we have none of those.
To understand more about our work on Brookfield and EIG's failed takeover bid of Origin Energy in 2023, view our analysis 'Share price now at $13+? The economics behind Brookfield and EIG's failed Origin Energy takeover'.
