Answer - More often than you think, despite what the proponent/s of a policy may claim otherwise.
Liberal Policy is sell Western Power. Its apparently loss making, difficult to manage a profit and needs commercial managers who can bring in better efficiencies, better price for consumers, more reliable supply to users and basically solve its problems. Only the private sector can deliver
Labor Policy - To retain it in Public ownership because there's no point selling all the silver cutlery if you're continually renting over priced spoons and knives if you can get any utensils where you are anyway. Only Public Ownership can deliver decency and power at the best possible price for all, rich or poor.
So who's right? Kinda both, kinda neither is my best guess. For a different perspective look at the graphic below which broadly explains the Life Cycle of a Business.
Startup for Western Power (SECWA, SEC) was a long time ago but it certainly was the case that the 60's 70s and some of the 80s were in the Rapid Growth section. We're somewhere in the decline section at present most likely. I say most likely because I don't have a timeline of milestones to show where its at now, but if its up for sale and if its because its a financial non performer then its somewhere in that red section.
Curious though, if its in the red decline section it doesn't mean its a bottomless money pit. It could still be profitable at this stage, but declining. Indeed we were told that Fremantle Harbour was a profitable asset when the Liberal Cabinet tried to push it into a sale catalogue.
Western Power is likely to be going through the same J Curve journey that many, most or perhaps all businesses go through. Maybe the thought at the time was, time to sell whilst its still worth something, before it declines much more and brings much less. That's quite probable. With the online betting & smart phone betting apps companies are running, it might be time to sell the TAB...who knows?
Thing is Western Power is pointed towards Retention or Sale. Either way, its going to have go through a re-birth. Either way its going to need deadwood set free. Either way the people in the regions are going to be the worst affected and most likely everyone's going to pay more for the same service delivery.
Its at this point you should realise that Sale or no Sale is immaterial. At some point services, maintenance and repairs are going to fall away the further the customer is from the generation. And where services don't fall away, costs & fees will sky rocket. Arguably already the case.So we need a solution.
Possibly the solution is ditch ideology and go to the best return to society instead of dressing ideology up as the best return for society. Best idea is to develop a strategy that's firewalled from whether its sold or not. Policy related to this shouldn't be "Western Power Sale Policy" it should be a comprehensive integrated energy policy.
Is it possible to turn every farm or small town into some part of a community co-operative owned power generator that services its own community and feeds back into the grid for a financial return? The profitability really relies on the Co-Op producing more power than the community produces so ironically the communities best equipped to have a financially sound chance are small towns with large farms. The smaller the town & the bigger the farms the better.
Bio-mass is produced on farms at a huge rate. Bio-mass is the fuel for Bio-Reactors that make electricity. Many farmers are still burning their stubbles or trying to work around the trash. But its easily raked and baled and could be sent to a bio-reactor.
The technology is there and coupled with wind turbines in the right district and solar panels there's a good chance of off grid generation. It won't replace all current sources of power, but if you can more & more turn down the traditional fuels used. The savings are there.
Here's the thing, fast forward 150 years and the solutions we'd be using will be the same solutions used irrespective of whether Western Power is sold 150 years or not. We should remember that in the USA, prohibition stopped grog production. It also stopped farmers making their own energy source by distilling corn into a white spirit. It provided light and could fuel motors better than other fuels of the time. Its a pity we're not doing the same, with 25% of a farm's crop going into an alcohol based fuel to run farm equipment or run generators on farm with bio-waste from the crop, the stubbles going to town into bio-reactors.
The technology is not new, its whether or not the fuel is as efficient in a truck or tractor as diesel is.
There's a few certainties.
We cannot rely on naked ideology to magically fix Western Power. Simply retaining it or selling it to the private sector won't deliver everything people further away always need. It needs to be managed better and taken to the Rebirth part of the J Curve before it goes to the death part...whether its sold or not.
We don't need to hear Western Power Sale Policies from both sides, because they are ideology driven. We need to hear the new business strategy to take the business of Western Power to the Rebirth part of the business pathway.
If that's done, then it doesn't actually need to be sold and we can retain the asset as it rebirths into the new Rapid Growth stretch of a reset J Curve and we all benefit more. Now having said that, we're talking about a Utility that delivers an Essential Service, so it has to be there is some form. But retained it doesn't have to deliver dividends and/or capital growth.
Your library will be the same as every other library, big or small...they run at a loss.
But they're social assets, delivering social dividends and the real social cost is when they're closed or privatised.
Think the electricity generation might be the same.
So what's Collie do if we stop using coal? Same thing they'd do if the coal ran out...pursue their own rebirth. If they seek it now, they'll benefit from diversity in their local economy.
Coal & Collie is not the problem, the problem is rebirthing the electricity business and that might need to include renewables, clustered minor power stations throughout WA, wind turbines, solar farms, alcohol fuels or bio-reactors making good gas for power generation.
When the parties start spruiking a policy position, (like Western Power), drain off the ideology and flush it. Head to the business planning, see how they plan to take the business from Decline to Rebirth. If you can't get that from them...revise your policy makers. Their policy J Curve went from Start Up to Death by-passing everything in the middle.
The main ongoing problem with the policy settings is the business life cycle graphic above still applies to government entities like Western Power. The trouble is ideology is the speed hump that stops proper rebirth and just quitting is seen as the only avenue of rebirth. A Western Power will rebirth if sold or retained but if it isn't its retained in an ongoing decline spiral.
The real solution is probably outside of conventional ideology driven party platforms & is found within simpler, common sense approaches that grab lots of wider opportunities for growth.
This is likely to be opposed by the Liberal/Labor Duopoly think tanks.
We need to recognise its #Time2StandUp4WA and edge the ideologues to the side and let the genuine Nation Builders have a free look.
*Image is from http://opsmgt.edublogs.org/tag/product-life-cycle/
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