Public-owned Australian power grid could solve energy issues, paper argues

Economist says national electricity market has been crippled by design flaws and a failure to take climate change into account

Australia's electricity woes could be solved through a unified and publicly owned national power grid, a discussion paper has said.

The paper authored by University of Queensland economist Prof John Quiggin says the creation of the national electricity market in the 1990s has failed to lower power prices and improve system reliability or environmental sustainability.