Australia: Adelaide Brighton sees power bill rise by US$2.2m

The price spike in July added around AUD3m (US$2.26m) to Adelaide Brighton's power bill, mainly attributed to operations at its Birkenhead plant. This surge in costs led the company to temporarily scale back its production and increase the use of imported product.

Managing Director, Martin Brydon, commented on how the company had the capacity to turn off its grinding process at the times of high power prices but urged that continuing power prices needed to be addressed.

The Council of Australian Governments Energy Council has committed to form to gas markets and is carrying out a feasibility study on a new interconnector between New South Wales and South Australia in an attempt to address the soaring prices.