The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal released its draft report on Wednesday for NSW regulated gas prices from 2014-16. In that report it foreshadowed price rises of 14.4- 19.4%.

While the IPART report mentions the carbon tax and network costs as being behind part of the rise, it also says the lack of domestic gas development is an issue.

While Roberts mentions this, so far there has been very little action from the NSW government to address this. Instead, the government has managed to lock away large parts of the state’s sizeable gas resources through regulations.

The regulated gas price affects small gas customers – those consuming less than 1000 gigajoules a year – who have not struck an agreement with a gas retailer. More than 75% of NSW small gas customers are no longer on regulated prices.

IPART pointed to the forthcoming LNG exports from Queensland – which will be using gas that otherwise would have gone to NSW – network costs and the carbon tax as the reasons behind the price rise.

While network costs had been a major contributor to past price rises, IPART says they will only contribute to some of the approved increase.

Roberts has been quick to leap onto the carbon tax side of the equation saying it is responsible for nearly a third of the price rises and called on Labor and the Greens to help the Australian government do away with it.

“The sheer damage this tax is inflicting is becoming abundantly clear with NSW gas customers slugged for Labor’s stubbornness,” he said.

“If Labor’s carbon tax is removed, NSW households and small businesses will see this increase cut by a third.”

Roberts also took aim at his Labor predecessor John Robertson.

“It was John Robertson who was Energy Minister in 2010 when gas network costs were locked in for five years of increases from 2010 to 2015,” he said.

“As network costs make up around 50% of bills, his mismanagement has come back to haunt us yet again.”

Roberts is far less strident about what is the cause of the bulk of the problems – the NSW government’s lack of action in tapping into the state’s vast gas resource.

NSW has the second largest onshore gas field, yet 95% of its gas comes from other states.

Roberts said the state had to grow its domestic gas resources to increase available supply in order to put downward pressure on gas prices.

“This is why the NSW government is working with communities and the industry to establish a safe and environmentally sustainable gas supply for NSW residents, businesses and manufacturers,” he said.

The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association called on the NSW government to ease the restrictions it has put in place on developing NSW coal seams.

The Australia Pipeline Industry Association has backed that call but also wants more information about available gas supply.

APIA chief executive Cheryl Cartwright said increased access to coal seam gas in NSW should “help reduce the impact on the domestic gas price cause by the increased demand on gas by the export industry”

“But it would be helpful to have information about gas availability that would demonstrate any increase in NSW supply would genuinely address any east coast gas shortfall,” she said.

“The eastern gas market transmission pipelines are linked.

“It is quite possible that gas from the NSW CSG fields could be transported to Queensland to fill contracts for LNG exports.”

Cartwright said it was critical there was sufficient gas supply to meet the demand of both markets – domestic and export.

“Access to coal seam gas in NSW is one of the answers to the challenge of meeting increased gas demand,” she said.

“Another is access to shale gas and also the development and production of the natural gas already available in current gas fields.”