I was shocked to read about Ausgrid's decision to charge solar panel owners 1.2 cents per kilowatt for exporting power to their grid off peak and paying a paltry 2.3 cents an hour for unlimited exports during the peak times when they are charging consumers very expensive high tariffs ("Solar sting for power imbalance", Herald, 17/5).
Using my solar exports over the past six years, I assessed my receipts for selling power at my present rate of 11 cents per kilowatt would be reduced from $6600 to $150, and estimate the new charge imposed for exporting power would be $500. So collectively it would cost me $6750. Potentially adding $1 billion a year revenue to Ausgrid or its retailers.
NSW has 885,000 residential solar systems, so this amounts to Ausgrid blackmailing these consumers to collectively provide batteries for the grid to use instead of Ausgrid investing into pumped hydro or their own batteries.
Surely, with the high-priced peak use times presently being charged, it would be a good investment for Ausgrid to alternatively invest in backup power but have assessed it is better economics to use its consumers' assets.
It is time we had an inquiry into the entire power industry as the wholesale price for power has dropped dramatically but has not been passed onto consumers.
Perhaps the 885,000 solar homes should coordinate to turn off their solar power at 3pm on a hot summer day to encourage Ausgrid to rethink this matter?
Darryl Stevenson, Coal Point
Going nuclear in Finland
Your correspondent ("Good nuclear news in Finland", Letters, 18/5) mentions the turning on of a nuclear reactor in Finland as evidence for adopting nuclear energy in Australia. What he failed to mention was that this reactor was commissioned in 2005, on the site of two existing reactors, at a cost of 3 billion euros (less than $A5 billion) and was expected to begin delivering power in 2009.
It was switched on in April last year (more than 14 years late) and cost 11 billion euros ($A18 billion).
Reasons for the delays were cited as adapting to the new nuclear technologies and a lack of a trained workforce (and that's in a country with decades of nuclear energy usage - how would Australia be placed?)
Finland has a population of five and a half million people, with three-quarters living in urban areas (30 per cent of the population in just one city, Helsinki), and an area of 338,462 square kilometres.
Australia has a population of 26 million, 86 per cent in urban areas spread right around the country, in an area of 7.688 million square kilometres. Five times the population and 23 times the landmass of Finland. And Finland's five nuclear reactors provide just one-third of its electricity.
In 2022, more than 14 per cent of Finland's electricity came from wind power and that proportion is increasing exponentially.
John Ure, Mount Hutton
Reacting to cost claim
I reject John Cooper's claim that Finland's fifth nuclear reactor is " far cheaper than Snowy Hydro 2" ("Good nuclear news in Finland", Letters, 18/5).
That 1600 MW reactor is Olkiluoto 3, which suffered typical construction delays, cost escalation and ongoing safety concerns.
Construction began in 2005 and was not completed until 2022 at a final cost of 11 billion euros ($A18 billion) - almost three times the initial estimate. That cost equates to $A11,250/kW of planned capacity, which is double the cost of Snowy 2.0 at $A5450/kW.
Olkiluoto 3 suffered several technological problems and ongoing safety concerns, including large defects in the first production welds and micro-cracking in the main coolant lines. Also, many other large, crucial components had to be re-made once or twice to achieve specified quality requirements.
Kenneth Higgs, Raymond Terrace
Prospect of Supercars' return
Just when we thought we had finally got rid of the Supercars debacle, we learn that all four Liberal candidates for lord mayor support the return of Supercars ("Liberal council prospects gather for 'lord mayoral' debate", Herald, 18/5).
The Liberal Party's support opens the possibility of a new five-year contract. The prospect of a new deal could help explain why the city's ALP-led council has not started to remove the infrastructure they need for the event or begun the promised tree re-planting program in Foreshore Park. Voters should not be complacent.
I believe the city needs representatives in this election who prioritise the interests of their constituents, rather than the interests of either major political party.
Christine Everingham, Newcastle East
SHORT TAKES
Please deliver on the basics
A message to governments; we plebs want a million things, but we need affordable food and shelter.
Ryan Wilson, Cessnock
Portrait criticism a bit rich
Those people who complain the Indigenous, disabled, immigrants and the gay communities can't take a good old-fashioned derogatory joke these days because someone might get "offended", and that wokeness, political correctness and cancel culture is ruining this country, are the same ones who are up in arms in support of Australia's richest, most powerful, entitled white woman who is offended by a portrait she doesn't like.
John Arnold, Anna Bay
Johnson leading the right fight
Mick Porter ("Champions come in all shapes, sizes", Letters, 17/5), no one looks good in a Manly jersey mate, but Caitlan Johnson sure looked great as she led the charge for the NSW Blues. Those trolls targeting her need to grow up and accept that she is a professional sports woman and has a right to make choices that are best for her
Dave McTaggart, Edgeworth
Rebate plan a dud
What an ill-conceived idea from the government this $75 a quarter electricity rebate is. There will be thousands of well-off households, many of which will have a holiday house, meaning they will get the rebate twice. Surely taxpayers' money would be better spent if the rebate was given only to those who need it, such as concession-card holders, pensioners, low-income households and the working poor with a cap on taxable incomes of $100,000 or less, not to high-wealth households who certainly don't need it.
Ian King, Warners Bay
Question for Hoenig
I hope that the Newcastle Herald doesn't let the letters to the editor scandal go, because, until the full truth comes out, I believe that the Newcastle council will try to bury it. I would love the Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery, to ask Ron Hoenig, the Minister of Local Government, in Parliament, why he hasn't pursued the outcome of this scandal and request the council to conduct a thorough inquiry.
Robert Dixon, Morpeth
New-look headshot impresses
Love, love, love the new Scott Neylon pic ("Questions left unanswered after Pinnacle Investigation", Herald, 18/5). What a trendy dude. A change from the windswept, outdoorsy, tongue-between-the-teeth guy we are so familiar with. Cool.
