Just to spell it out again. An excess dividend is when more $ is paid to investors (including the government) than is actually earned. Some - perhaps all of those excess dividends could have been invested in batterys or other renewables but instead we have a nation held to ransom. WTF.
"In the decade to 2023, dividends have totaled almost $10.8 billion (including excess dividends of $4.2 billion), while investment on plant, property, and equipment over the decade came to only $4.5 billion."
"A decade of data shows next to no growth in national generating capacity against $11 billion in dividends for shareholders, 142 percent of net profit after tax."..cont
These costs slow the expansion of generating capacity and the decarbonisation of industrial and transport emissions, as well as impact the competitiveness of domestic manufacturing and job creation. This data shows that privatisation has failed to deliver for people and planet." page 5 of the report