WA energy transition: Synergy won’t confirm bailout talks but warns ‘no guarantee’ on financial stability

Synergy chief Kurt Baker won’t say whether the power supplier asked for a taxpayer bailout last year but has warned “there’s no guarantees” about the utility’s financial future. The government-owned electricity retailer posted a whopping $779 million loss in the 2025 financial year thanks partly to a major writedown of the value of coal power stations. That figure has see-sawed as the business grapples with predicting impacts of the energy transition and the State’s target to shut coal plants by 2030. Synergy’s woes previously sparked media speculation that former energy minister Reece Whitby had requested a $1 billion cash injection — or bailout — for the financial year. When asked in a Legislative Council committee hearing on Wednesday morning whether Synergy had requested the money, Mr Baker did not directly respond. “I’m not in a position to talk to media speculation,” he said. Asked again, State Government Minister Stephen Dawson stepped in to shut down the questioning, saying any discussions would be “cabinet in confidence”. Mr Baker said Synergy — which generates power and also holds a monopoly for retailing to households — was investing into new assets that would support financial sustainability. He pointed to work on wind farms, recent battery builds, and the closure of coal as setting the business up for the long term. “Because of their age (and) the nature of the market (coal plants) are expensive to maintain and operate now,” Mr Baker said. Yet he could not say whether the State Government would need to keep pumping cash into the business. “The energy market is a dynamic market. Like any transition . . . there is a degree of volatility, there is a degree of uncertainty,” Mr Baker said. “There’s no guarantees as to what might take place in terms of financial stability. “We’re investing in our asset base to give us the right assets for the future. That’s on track.” The State’s transition strategy scored a win in recent weeks with the wholesale price of electricity falling 13 per cent in the December quarter compared to a year prior. An influx of renewables is expected to bring down the price of each unit of electricity, but likely drive up the cost of reliability and back-up services. Reserve capacity payments, which pay power stations to be available and keep the grid reliable, are expected to double by 2028-29. Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said earlier this month that renewables supported by storage and gas “remains the lowest cost mix for our energy system”.