Unless you’re living in northern Australia, you’ve been experiencing wintery conditions well before June. In fact, May this year was the coldest month for over half a decade.
No doubt most households turned up the heater or put an extra log or three into their fireplaces to keep warm.
Many likely experienced ‘bill shock’ when their utility bills arrived.
Speaking for myself, our usage hasn’t changed much year-on-year, but I’m paying 30–50% more for my electricity and gas.
As of 1 July, it’s going to get just that much tougher.
I received an email from my electricity supplier explaining it’s increasing the price of my usage by another 50%. The daily supply charge will increase by 20%. Similarly, my gas supplier increased the price of my usage in March by around 40%.
You’ve probably heard about this already from family and friends.
It’s a kick in the guts for many households already struggling to make ends meet. We lived through the ravages of the Wuhan virus outbreak thanks to measures by the government and public health bureaucrats which crippled our economy.
The economic ‘broken window’ fallacy at work
Many Australians went to the polls last May to oust the Coalition in the hope that the ALP would follow through with their promises to cut electricity bills.
The ALP did have this as a major promise in their election campaign.
However, last October the ALP quietly removed that page from their website.
Do you want to guess why they did that?
To be fair, the ALP did roll out a rebate on electricity bills to provide relief for eligible Australians (pensioners, ex-veterans and family carers). These households and small businesses could see a $175–650 relief on their bills.
Don’t forget the sharp increase in our utility bills is partly due to the government trying to quickly phase out fossil fuels.
We’re seeking to reduce our reliance on the most dependable and cheap fuel source (coal) to transition into something that has yet to pass the test of powering large cities (solar and wind).
It’s the good old economic fallacy of a broken window!
Don’t forget that a significant proportion of Australians embraced this last May. They elected more than 10 climate change advocates into parliament (the Teal party)!
We made our beds, so now we lie in them.
A not-so-obscure solution waiting at the wings
Now I’m not denying that climate doesn’t change (look up solar cycles and the Maunder Minimum). Nor do I reject the notion that society should consider moving to cleaner sources of energy.
I just take issue with those who embrace the idea that climate change is some form of ‘settled science’. Especially if this brand of science is sponsored by multinational corporations, international think tanks, and wealthy people who are the biggest consumers of fossil fuels.
It’s hard to take someone seriously who warns of the Earth overheating and rising ocean levels caused by man-made pollution, when simultaneously, they’re buying waterfront mansions, flying in private jets, and cruising in their yachts (hello Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Al Gore).
Governments and corporations around the world embracing this radical ideology are now experiencing severe backlash from the public. Small businesses and households especially have borne the brunt of soaring utility costs, causing many to take to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction. Throw into the mix the increasing burden of government regulations that can restrict business growth and operations.
Funnily enough, many European countries that pushed hard on going green hit a brick wall, as their gas supply all but dried up after the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted. It caused the European Union to reclassify gas and nuclear as ‘green energy’ to fit their agenda, which was as embarrassing as it was laughable.
You can always ‘trust the science’ with this lot. They’ll paint a black cat with white stripes and call it a skunk!
Speaking of nuclear, you should brace yourself for its return.
Uranium has recently grabbed the spotlight, as many countries including the US, Japan and France scrambled to build or restart nuclear reactors to cover the power shortfall.
The price of uranium has held steady at around US$50 a pound in the past year. It seems the decade-long nuclear winter caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster has finally ended. This price stability has allowed many uranium mining companies to gain a foothold in the equity and debt markets. These funds allow them to develop their projects or restart production.
My colleague, Murray Dawes, has recently recommended his subscribers get into late-stage uranium stocks. For a few months, he’d indicated that he was keeping a watchful eye on this industry.
He’s now declared it’s the right time to jump in.
It’s sad that Australians won’t be able to enjoy the benefits of our vast uranium resources as we’re still a nuclear-free country.
Building nuclear plants is a logical solution as it provides reliable, clean, and cheap baseload energy. Unlike Japan, there’s a low risk of earthquakes or other tectonic activity that can trigger nuclear disasters.
Since our government isn’t going to get their act together and consider nuclear, one option to offset the rising utility bills is in speculating on uranium stocks.
If you’re not up for that level of risk, that’s fine. There’re other ways to relieve yourself of the pain of soaring living costs.
A solid gold portfolio is one of them.
Find out more by signing up here.
In the meantime, stay warm and in good health.
God bless,
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Brian Chu,
Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia
