The great electric con trick . . .

Aug 07, 2003

A book launch and public seminar will be held tomorrow (Thursday 7 August) which have as their themes the fight for control of the world's electricity.

The Faculty of Arts, in conjunction with the UniBookshop, will launch the book, "Power Play: The fight for control of the world's electricity" by Professor Sharon Beder of the UOW's School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication.

The book launch will be followed by a Faculty of Arts Public Seminar titled, "The great electric con trick: Privatising and reregulating our electricity".

Electricity rationing in Brazil. blackouts from California and New York to South Australia and Buenos Aires.mass protests in India, Africa, and across Latin America. Enron, the seventh-largest company in America, goes bankrupt . and in Auckland, New Zealand, the central business district goes without power for weeks.

Welcome to the brave new world of electricity deregulation and privatisation laid bare in "Power Play" (published by Scribe). The book rips away the secrecy surrounding the international scams, lies and cover-ups that surround the business of electricity.

The NSW Government's recent push to privatise electricity was defeated by the caucus which, according to Professor Beder, was the state's lucky escape as she reveals horrifying accounts of soaring prices and plunging service quality, from Victoria to India to California.

When electricity was privatised in Victoria in 1995, Professor Beder said the new electricity overlords seemingly made little effort to maintain the quality of supply. A 1997 Coopers and Lybrand survey found that a third of the privatised companies believed previously experienced reliability levels would/may not be provided.

She said that this unbelievable state of affairs has been repeated all over the world.

Professor Beder has a long-standing interest in environmental and technological controversies. She originally trained and worked as an engineer before becoming involved in social, political and philosophical aspects of engineering and then environmental politics.

She has written six books and numerous articles, including "Global Spin - the Corporate assault on Environmentalism" (also published by Scribe) and "Toxic Fish and Sewer Surfing", about Australian beaches and how deceit and collusion are destroying them.

["Power Play": The fight for control of the world's electricity, by Sharon Beder, Published by Scribe, June 2003, RRP $35.]

Book launch time (5.30pm). Public Seminar time (6.15pm), Thursday 7 August - both in Building 19 (Arts Bldg), Room 1064.

Further information: Contact Professor Sharon Beder on (02) 4221 4063 or June Apsley on 4221 5581.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128