Second energy firm wrongly received money from welfare payments under Centrepay scheme

Services Australia is working with Ergon to return overpayments, prompting fears the issue first identified at AGL could be widespread

A second Australian energy company wrongly received money from the welfare payments of former customers, prompting fears that the issue identified at AGL could be widespread.

Guardian Australia revealed last week that $700,000 had been diverted via the government-run Centrepay debit system from the pockets of more than 500 welfare recipients to the energy giant AGL.

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Half a million Victorian homes without power and trains cancelled as storm causes outage at state’s largest coal-fired plant

Authorities working to ‘get Victorians back online as quickly as possible’, state’s energy minister says


Half a million households in Victoria are without electricity and trains have been suspended across metropolitan Melbourne after a power station went down during storms.

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AGL will close Victoria’s coal-fired power station Loy Yang A a decade early

Energy company accelerates its exit from coal, although timeline for closure of Bayswater in the NSW Hunter Valley remains unchanged

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AGL Energy will shut down Australia’s biggest single carbon polluting power plant a decade earlier than planned, changing the closure date of its coal-fired Loy Yang A power station in Victoria from 2045 to 2035.

The company, Australia’s biggest electricity generator and polluter, is accelerating its exit from coal, according to plan released to the stock exchange on Thursday. . The strategy details its transition to renewable energy after opposition from its largest shareholder, billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, forced it in May to ditch plans to demerge.

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Australian electricity companies not reducing emissions in line with Paris agreement goals, study finds

AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin among businesses study says not on track to meet global climate goals to limit heating to well below 2C

Nine out of 10 major Australian electricity companies are failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the landmark Paris climate agreement, a study has found.

Businesses not acting in accordance with the 2015 Paris agreement goal of limiting global heating to well below 2C since pre-industrial times included the generators and retailers AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin, according to the study led by University of Queensland researchers.

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AGL reveals demerger would cost $260m as Mike Cannon-Brookes tries to block plan

Atlassian cofounder says released details prove the split would be a ‘terrible outcome’ for energy giant’s shareholders

The planned split of AGL Energy that billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is trying to foil will cost $260m upfront and $35m in extra costs per year for the demerged entities, documents from the energy giant show.

In separate releases to the ASX on Friday afternoon, AGL laid out its details of the demerger ahead of a 15 June vote by shareholders. As the biggest shareholder following his purchase of a 11.3% holding, Cannon-Brookes can block the move with the support of another 13.7% of share owners.

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Election 2022 live updates: RBA chief warns interest rates could hit 2.5% as Labor seizes on ‘cost of living crisis’

Scott Morrison defends economic ‘shield’ after RBA lifts cash rate target from historic low; Philip Lowe says more interest rate rises to come; Jim Chalmers says central bank decision ‘a very serious development’; nation records 41 Covid deaths. Follow the latest updates live

Scott Morrison doesn’t get sick of the “silly” photo ops [silly photo opportunities being how the question was framed], he tells Melbourne radio’s Neil Mitchell, because he “doesn’t see them that way”.

He then gives a hero-gram to tradies.

I don’t fit in those ways, what I see is [being] out and about and doing what Australians do every day.

... What I enjoy doing is standing there with an apprentice who shows me what they’re learning, and then I’d have a go at it.

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Mike Cannon-Brookes buys up AGL shares in bid to block energy giant’s demerger

AGL says it’s determined to go ahead with the merger despite the purchase, which has made Cannon-Brookes the company’s largest single shareholder

AGL Energy, Australia’s biggest electricity generator, says it remains determined to pursue its plan to split despite a bid for a blocking stake by technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

In a second tilt at the company in three months, Cannon-Brookes bought 11.28% of the AGL shares through his family’s Grok Ventures firm, making him the largest single shareholder.

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Why is Mike Cannon-Brookes trying to buy Australia’s dirtiest energy company? – video explainer

Last week tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset management company Brookfield launched their extraordinary takeover bid for energy generator and retailer AGL. AGL is Australia's largest energy provider as well as largest polluter. Guardian Australia's environment editor Adam Morton breaks down the elements in the proposal and explains the strategy behind the consortium's offer


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