"Mo Energy Market Mo Energy Problems (NEM Diss Track)” feat. The Notorious RBD

Let Me Sum Up

Frankie’s maternity leave is well underway (it’s a girl!) meaning a new host graciously filling in (Alison Reeve) and a new shownote-writer rather less graciously filling in (Tennant).

After briefly speculating on the virtues of peak energy nerd board game Power Grid (none of us have played it, but we hear good things!) we make a fresh listener appeal: tell us how we’re doing with the podcast and what you want, including shorter/longer episodes and more/less energy/Dungeons & Dragons crossover content, in our quick and easy survey. You’ll be glad you did!

Then it’s a quick tour of the climate bits of the 2023 Intergenerational Report (IGR). Treasury’s latest take on the fiscal long term view has much more to say about climate than ever before. But is it any good?

Our main paper this time is “Rethinking markets, regulation and governance for the energy transition” by Dr Ron Ben-David, arch-econocrat, ex-head of the Victorian Essential Services Commission, original-recipe NEM contributor, and deep thinker on markets and regulation. The Notorious RBD now reckons our whole energy market design and associated regulatory and governance structures are increasingly unsound given the move from a steady-state energy system to massive transition. He offers a lot of energy policy provocations, a dash of literary reference and a splash of AI conspiracy. Well worth a read as well as a listen!

Tennant’s One More Thing is the tiny deckbuilding videogame Green New Deal Simulator by Paolo Pedercini - get it for free on iOS, Android or Steam and get ready to chortle (or bristle) at the policy judgments embedded in its simple game mechanics!

Alison’s One More Thing is the 19th anniversary of Australian jurisdictions’ agreement to introduce mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency of residential property at the time of sale or lease. But PSYCH! because only the ACT has got around to doing this. So far!

Luke’s One More Thing is the NSW response to Victoria’s statewide decision to end new residential gas connections starting in 2024: The Premier says nope, won’t follow; but several councils say “yep, we’re doing our own thing.” A seamless national economy in the making!

And that’s the episode that was, beloved Summerupperers! Keep circulating the policy papers, or at least emailing them to

[e-mail], and xeeting further thoughts at us via @LukeMenzel, @TennantReed, @alison_reeve and - if new baby permits time to scroll X: The Everything App - @FrankieMuskovic

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