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Mayor calls for early decision on power company rates Latrobe City Mayor, Cr Bruce Lougheed, has called on the state government to make a quick decision on the amount of local government rates to be paid by power companies. By Latrobe City Council - 4th May 2005 - Back to News Cr Lougheed said that Latrobe City was well into planning its 2005/6 budget and the outcome of the state government review of power company rates will have a direct impact on Latrobe City’s budget and the level of rates to be paid by Latrobe residents.
The State government commenced a review of power company rates in September 2004 but has yet to hand down a decision. Since privatisation, power companies have enjoyed an approximate 86% discount on rates as the result of a process put in place by the then government.
Cr Lougheed said that Latrobe City has taken the position that power companies should be subject to the same rating process as any other privately owned large industrial establishment.
"This position has been supported by other Victorian municipalities involved in the power industry and the local government peak body, the Municipal Association of Victoria," Cr Lougheed explained.
"It is difficult to justify the low rates for the power industry when considered against what Latrobe charges other large industries," Cr Lougheed said.
"We understand that the current power generation market is depressed and that the state government may therefore have compelling reasons for wishing to keep power Industry costs down. However, any power industry subsidy, rates or otherwise, should be a state issue to which all Victorians contribute. It would be unjust to require Latrobe City ratepayers to continue to subsidise all of Victoria’s electricity consumers.
"There is no doubt that as a consequence of a more equitable rate contribution the power costs for all Victorians would have to rise, but this would be a handful of dollars for each consumer when those costs were spread across all Victorians. At the moment, Latrobe City ratepayers are having to dig deep into their own pockets to keep prices artificially low for other consumers across the state," Cr Lougheed added.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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