West Australians have been hit in the hip-pocket, with price hikes to power and gas set to add about $250 to the average annual household bill.

The cost for electricity will rise 7.5 per from April 1, and a further 10 per cent more from July 1.

Premier Colin Barnett said the average weekly power cost increase for consumers would be $4.13 from July 1 - about $215 a year.

Mr Barnett said people facing financial hardship would pay an average $2.78 more a week - or about $145 a year.

About $16.8 million of rebates and hardship assistance measures will be made available.

The state government has also accepted a 7 per cent increase to the gas tariff, which will add a further $33 to a typical household's annual gas bill - taking the combined average electricity/gas hike to about $248.

Tariff rises will also apply to small businesses, with an average weekly increase of $7.29 (about $379 a year) from July 1.

The combined increase for electricity of about 18.3 per cent is significantly lower than the 25.9 per cent hike assumed in the 2010 state budget.

Mr Barnett said the reason for the price hike was the "botched up break-up of Western Power" in 2005 under the previous Labor government.

"When they did so, they said it would put downward pressure on electricity prices," Mr Barnett said.

"The disaggregation of Western Power has been a disaster. And an expensive disaster for Western Australian householders."

Mr Barnett claimed that before the split-up of the electricity provider, Western Power was running at a profit, while it was now running at a loss.

Opposition leader Eric Ripper rejected accepting responsibility for the increased prices, saying the government had to own full responsibility for their decision.

"It's time for (the government) to do away with the blame game," Mr Ripper said.

"The split up of Western Power occurred in 2006.

"It's time for the government to take responsibility for their decisions. It's their budget; they've been in power since September, 2008.

"They have to take responsibility for what they are doing; they can't any longer hide behind blaming their predecessors."

The government has also accepted Alinta's proposal to raise the cap for gas tariffs for residential and small business customers in the Mid-West/South-West, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Albany regions.

Albany faces the biggest price hike, with gas rising 10 per cent compared to the 7 per cent rise for the rest of the state.

Alinta claims the tariff changes were needed to ensure customers were provided with reliable and sustainable gas supplies in the longer term.

"This government will increase tariffs responsibly to ensure the lights stay on, while also considering the financial pressure many families are already under," Mr Barnett said.

Payments provided through the Hardship Utilities Grant Scheme will increase from $380 to $408 from April 1, and $450 from July 1 for households in the state's south. The number of financial counsellors funded through the program will be increased.

Payments for households north of the 26th parallel will rise from $633 to $680.

You can find this and similar articles on the WA Today website. 

CONSUMERS will no longer be able to compare electricity prices using a Choice service after it decided a lack of competition made it pointless.

The move comes as household electricity bills are set to surge due to rising energy prices and the federal government's planned emissions trading scheme.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal is finalising plans to approve rises of as much as 62 per cent over the next few years, with a decision expected later this month.

But a Choice spokesman, Christopher Zinn, said the consumers' group had decided to mothball its service in NSW, CHOICEswitch, until the benefits of competition can come to this state. and instead focus on energy efficiency.

The service allowed customers to compare electricity prices and find the cheapest supplier.

''We find there's more benefit to consumers by refocusing on energy-efficiency measures than switching providers,'' he said.

''It's a pity because in Victoria they have full retail competition - when will it come here?''

Mr Zinn said the lack of competition in NSW meant that cost comparisons between rival electricity suppliers were too minor to be worthwhile.

Meanwhile, the Energy and Water Ombudsman is seeing a surge in complaints as households struggle to pay their utility bills following earlier price rises. In NSW, a large number of households have remained on fixed electricity tariffs that are controlled by the government, unlike states such as Victoria and South Australia, where tariffs are less regulated.

The lack of price difference between those on private contracts and the regulated tariffs in NSW has resulted in households shifting back to regulated tariffs over the past 18 months.

The price regulator estimates that as many as a quarter of households who decided to switch electricity retailer in 2008-09 were reverting back to a regulated tariff.

By June last year, 33 per cent of households were on competitive electricity tariffs, well below levels in other states, with South Australia at 66 per cent and Queensland at 45 per cent.

Mr Zinn said it was not possible to compare retail electricity prices between the states because of the differing pricing structures.

''It's hard to compare, although electricity bills are rising by sizeable amounts around the country,'' he said.

You can find this and similar articles on the Sydney Morning Herald website. 

On 19 February 2010 the Government announced that a new household Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme will assist households to save money on power bills and reduce their carbon emissions.

This new Scheme will replace the Home Insulation Program and the Solar Hot Water Rebate Program both of which are discontinued as of close of business 19 February 2010.

From 20 February 2010, the rebate on solar hot water systems is reduced from $1,600 to $1,000 and the rebate on heat pump systems is reduced from $1,000 to $600.

Transitional Arrangements until 19 March 2010

Transitional arrangements have been put in place for people who paid for or ordered their hot water systems prior to 20 February 2010.

Eligible solar or heat pump hot water systems purchased or installed prior to 20 February 2010 may be eligible for a $1,600 rebate for solar hot water or $1,000 for heat pumps, if proof of purchase or installation prior to 20 February 2010 is included with the application.

Applicants who ordered or made partial payment for their solar or heat pump hot water systems but had not had their system installed prior to 20 February 2010, must include written evidence of their order with their rebate application. A receipt for a deposit or a copy of their supplier’s order form is required. A quote is not sufficient evidence of an order.

In all cases final decisions regarding rebate eligibility will be made by the Government.

Arrangements after 20 March 2010

IMPORTANT: All applications received from 20 March 2010 will be assessed for $1,000 for solar hot water and $600 for heat pump hot water systems, regardless of installation date.

Interim program guidelines and application forms for the Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme and the previous Solar Hot Water Rebate will be available shortly.

Further information is available on phone 1800 808 571.

• Media release - 19 February 2010

A skipper hoping to become the first to circumnavigate the globe using solar power said his catamaran could carve a wake for pollution-free shipping as he unveiled the world's largest solar-powered vessel in Germany.

Raphael Domjan, 38, pulled the covers off the 18 million euro ($27.4 million) catamaran yesterday.

"This is a unique feeling to see in front of me today a boat which I so often dreamed about," he said.

PlanetSolar, a 31 x 15-metre white catamaran, has been designed to reach a top speed of around 15 knots, equivalent to 27 kilometres per hour, and can hold up to 50 passengers.

Five hundred square metres of black solar panels top the vessel, with a bright white cockpit sticking up in the centre.

Built at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel in northern Germany, its state-of-the-art design also means it will be able to slice smoothly through the waves even in choppy waters.

The team behind its construction acknowledge that solar power is not about to become the main power source on modern cargo ships.

They say they want to use the voyage primarily to promote solar power and other non-polluting sources of energy and to show what can be done.

"The aim is really to show that we have the technology today, not tomorrow," Mr Domjan said.

"It's not in a laboratory or DIY. It is a technology that is reliable, able to perform and economically interesting."

PlanetSolar will launch in late March before starring at Hamburg port's 821st anniversary celebrations in May and undergoing testing between June and September.

You can find this and similar articles on the ABC website. 

Hard on the heels of being approved by the FTC to buy and sell energy, Google has announced what they see as a significant breakthrough in the materials used to concentrate the sun’s rays in solar thermal technology plants.

Solar thermal plans work by focusing the rays of the sun on water in order to boil the water to form steam, which is then used to turn turbines to generate electricity. The more focused the the beam of light, the more steam is produced more quickly and the more electricity can be generated. Google has been working with the materials that are used in the construction of the mirrors that do the focusing, and they feel that they have made a discovery that can double the efficiency of a solar thermal technology power plant, according to a CNET article.

Bill Weihl, who is Google’s green-energy czar, says that they have been working hard on the project and are producing results. He says, “Things have progressed. We have an internal prototype. There is a decent chance that in a small number of years, we could have a 2-X reduction in cost.” Obviously, by cutting in half the cost of building the power plant, the owner of the plant can produce energy at a lower cost, making that energy more attractive to buyers.

Google has been investing not only in research related to the energy industry, but specifically in companies that have a connection to the green energy field and solar thermal companies in particular. Two such acquisitions, eSolar and BrightSource, would be the logical vehicles for such a mirror, something that is not lost on Weihl. He says that he has discussed the new mirror technology with both companies, and that they are interested, although the new technology is not yet at a point where it can be tested outside Google’s labs.  At the same time, he said that both companies were interested in the development, noting that, “If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use.”

Perhaps there was some commercial reason after all for Google to acquire a license to buy and sell energy…

You can find this and similar articles over at TechBlorge.