CANBERRA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has promised its citizens an end to high electricity prices, but has not been able to put a timeline on when they can expect to pay less, after the government took "unprecedented action" in passing a number of recommendations tabled by the nation's chief scientist earlier this month.
At a coalition partyroom meeting overnight, the government debated the merits of the recommendations handed down by chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel, and decided upon an energy policy which it said would not only ease the supply and price issues plaguing the nation, but would appease backbenchers who were vehemently against backing some of the recommendations.
On Wednesday, Australia's Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the unprecedented new policy would shore up domestic supply and lower the prices of gas and electricity, while also appeasing the conservatives on the government's backbench.
Despite the pitch, Frydenberg couldn't put a timeline on when Australians could expect to pay less for their power, but told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio that price cuts should be happening "very quickly."
"We've already seen prices come down as a result of the prime minister putting pressure on these gas companies to increase their supply, and the Australian Energy Market Operator has reported that there's been an increase in gas supply domestically since earlier this year," Frydenberg said on Wednesday.
"There are no 'silver bullets' to reducing power prices, there are a series of measures we can take ... The gas restrictions are one but we're also abolishing the ability of the energy companies to gouge consumers."
Overnight, following the partyroom meeting, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said a restriction on gas exports would be enforced to ensure that there is enough domestic supply - something he said would also contribute to lower energy prices - while he also said the government would consider building "clean coal" power stations similar to those in China and Japan.
"I've said in the past that I think that, as Australia is the largest seaborne exporter of coal, it would be good if we had a state-of-the-art, clean-coal power station in Australia," Turnbull said.
"But that's not to say that the federal government should be building it or would be building it."
He said the government would explore a "reverse auction" process in building the high-energy, low-emissions (HELE) coal power stations.
The partyroom passed 49 of the chief scientist's 50 recommendations, with the only one not approved being the implementation of a Clean Energy Target (CET) in favor of the current Renewable Energy Target (RET).
