The BCA strongly backs the Owen Inquiry’s key recommendation for the New South Wales Government to divest itself from ownership of the state’s retail and generation sectors.

The BCA also supports the Owen Inquiry’s finding that unless retail and generation are privatised in New South Wales it is unlikely that investment needed in new generation will occur in a timely way.

Adopting the recommendations in the Owen report will pave the way for greater energy security for New South Wales as well a more effective national energy market.

The report correctly highlights that future energy investment by the private sector will face too much policy and market uncertainty if government ownership continues to dominates the retail and generation sectors. 

The BCA also endorses the Owen report’s view that the market should decide the source of new generation within the context of Australia’s proposed emissions trading system. 

This will lead to much better outcomes than having governments pick winners by nominating the source of future new energy generation.