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Green Energy & Red Tape

The Government promised a coal-to-renewables plan that would "pay for itself". Costs are climbing, the state-owned retailer is in the red, and the real price of power is hidden in the budget. Meanwhile the Government's own review found that environmental approvals cost money "without any benefit to the environment".

Headline figures

  • $368m → $513m (+39%): King Rocks wind farm, in about 19 months. (WA Govt, May 2023; WA Govt, Dec 2024)
  • $778.5m: Synergy's 2024-25 loss, after a profit of almost $600m the year before. (The West; RenewEconomy)
  • $249m → $925m: Synergy operating subsidies. The 2017-18 Budget planned $249m and falling. The 2023-24 Budget allocated $925.1m. (BP2 2017-18; BP2 2023-24)
  • $112,150: the cost of the Government's own approvals review, which found the system "costly ... without any benefit to the environment". (WA Govt)
  • 5 weeks: how long the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act lasted before its repeal was announced. (WA Govt)

Findings

1. Rising costs in the coal-replacement plan

  • Fact: In June 2022 the Government announced that Synergy's coal plants would close by 2029, backed by "an estimated $3.8 billion" for wind and storage. It said the plan would "pay for itself by 2030-31" (WA Govt).
  • Fact: King Rocks was $368m in May 2023 and $513m in Dec 2024 (+$145m, or 39%). (WA Govt). By February 2025 the minister cited "$5.4 billion in the transition". The ABC reported that about 90% of the money had been allocated while Synergy was about 400MW short of its battery target and wind was about 60% short (ABC, 11 Feb 2025). The Kwinana Battery Stage 2 cost $661m and the Collie battery $1.6bn (WA Govt; WA Govt).
  • Our read: The "pays for itself" claim can't be tested without the business case, and we found no published reconciliation of how the program went from $3.8bn to $5.4bn. Part of that may be added scope.

2. Synergy: from profit to a $778.5m loss, with subsidies that never wind down

  • Fact: Synergy lost $778.5m in 2024-25, including a $521.8m impairment that wrote its coal assets down to nil. Its report says subsidies are "needed to ensure Synergy's financial viability" (The West; RenewEconomy).
  • Fact: The 2017-18 Budget planned to cut Synergy operating subsidies from $249m to about $107–114m a year. The 2023-24 Budget showed $827.8m (2022-23 estimated actual) and $925.1m (2023-24), with out-years again forecast to fall to about $255m (BP2 2017-18; BP2 2023-24).
  • Fact: Synergy received about $4.8bn in operating subsidies in six years: $528.9m (2019-20), $942.4m (2020-21), $357.4m (2021-22), $799.4m (2022-23), $921.5m (2023-24) and $1,217.4m (2024-25), a total of $4.77bn. A further $692.5m is estimated for 2025-26. Much of this funds household bill credits paid through Synergy (BP2 2021-22; 2022-23; 2024-25; 2025-26; 2026-27).
  • Our read: Each Budget forecasts subsidies falling, and they don't. The real cost of keeping power prices down sits in the budget and on Synergy's books, which taxpayers own.

3. Electricity credits

  • Fact: The 2024-25 Budget set aside $492.4m for a $400 credit to every household and small business, on top of a $300 Commonwealth credit. The Government says households have received "at least $2,100" over four years (WA Govt).
  • Our read: Universal credits hide the cost of power instead of fixing it. You pay either way, on your bill or through your taxes.

4. Subsidies piled on subsidies

  • Fact: The WA Residential Battery Scheme has $337m for up to 100,000 rebates, stacked on the federal $2.3bn program (WA Govt). Clean Energy Link North has $584m in the 2025-26 Budget (Western Power). The Pilbara Hydrogen Hub has $140m committed, half state and half federal (PDC).
  • Fact (federal, in WA): Up to $814.34m in Hydrogen Headstart production credits went to Murchison Hydrogen Renewables (signed 30 Mar 2026, running to 2041) (GrantConnect).

5. Green tape: reviewed, confirmed, and answered with more staff

  • Fact: The Government's Vogel-McFerran review (Oct–Nov 2023, $112,150) found approvals "overly complex, time-consuming, and costly ... without any benefit to the environment" (WA Govt).
  • Fact: The response was $18m (Dec 2023) and another $14m for EPA and Appeals Convenor staff (Nov 2024). By then, 22 of 34 recommendations had been "fully or partly" actioned. Statutory time limits were only "investigated" (WA Govt).
  • Our read: Without binding deadlines and published approval times, nobody can tell whether the reforms are working.

6. The heritage law that lasted five weeks, and left a bigger bureaucracy

  • Fact: The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 commenced on 1 Jul 2023. Repeal was announced on 8 Aug 2023 and took effect on 15 Nov 2023. The Premier said: "for that, I am sorry" (WA Govt). $77m over four years had been committed to the new system (WA Govt).
  • Fact: Aboriginal heritage management cost rose from $22m (2023-24) to almost $39m (2025-26), and FTEs rose from 80 to 100, even though the old 1972 Act was restored (Estimates Hansard, 3 Jul 2025).
  • Our read: The failed law still left a heritage bureaucracy about 75% more expensive. The sunk cost of the rollout has never been disclosed.

7. No costing for the emissions target

  • Fact: The Climate Change Act 2023 requires the minister to "consider the costs, benefits" when preparing the climate strategy. The Government's own 2030 target is 80% below FY2020 for its agencies and enterprises (WA Govt). We found no published costing of that target.

8. A $30m "State of Energy" ad campaign

  • Fact: The Government is spending $30m over 2025-26 and 2026-27 on its "State of Energy" campaign: $18m domestic and $12m global, confirmed by a government spokesperson (ABC, 10 Sep 2026). The Premier launched it at the Energy Exchange Australia conference on 10 Mar 2026.
  • Fact: According to the Opposition's account of answers in Parliament (to questions from Dr Steve Thomas), the Government could not say which agencies were engaged or what the campaign's KPIs are.

9. Hydrogen hype is fading

  • Fact: In 2025 BP shelved its roughly $1bn Kwinana renewable-fuel and hydrogen projects (Feb 2025), cancelled H2Kwinana after failing to win Hydrogen Headstart funding (CSIRO HyResource), and exited the $55bn Australian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara as operator and 63.57% owner (Reuters, 24 Jul 2025).

What we'd do: Clear Rules, Honest Power

  • Approval deadlines in law for EPA and DWER decisions, with automatic escalation if they're missed, and approval times published every quarter.
  • Technology-neutral energy: end targeted subsidies, whether hydrogen hubs or battery rebates, and let every technology compete on cost and reliability.
  • Honest prices: cost-reflective tariffs with targeted concessions instead of universal credits, and Synergy's subsidies shown separately in every Budget.
  • Publish the business case for the coal-replacement program, and have the Auditor General review it.
  • A published cost-benefit statement before any emissions target is set, and full disclosure of the cost of the heritage law episode.