Utility giant AGL Energy says Australians want cheap, reliable energy with no impact on the environment but that was not yet technically or economically possible.
Utility giant AGL Energy says it is not yet technically or economically possible to provide cheap, reliable energy with no impact on the environment.
AGL chairman Jerry Maycock made the comments at the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday while a small group of NSW Hunter Valley residents protested against the company's Gloucester coal seam gas project.
The company has reported impairments of $344 million on the value of other CSG assets due to tougher NSW regulations banning drilling in more areas.
NSW especially, and the east coast generally, face sharp gas price rises and possible supply shortfalls as gas is redirected to LNG export projects.
"This is a disappointing example of government policymaking driven predominantly by short-term political imperatives with little weight apparently given to longer-term state energy interests," Mr Maycock told shareholders at the meeting.
Chief executive Michael Fraser said AGL took its obligations to local communities and the environment seriously but, he believed, its CSG projects could provide affordable energy with minimal impact.
Outside the meeting, former Gloucester mayor Julie Lyford said she believed the project threatened local drinking water supplies and air quality, and the lack of understanding of the area's complex geology posed a large risk.
A protest vote is expected at the AGM against Mr Fraser's remuneration bonuses, worth more than $3.6 million following the impairments and profit fall last year.
On Wednesday, the company forecast underlying profit of between $560 million and $610 million in fiscal 2014 compared to $585.4 million in 2013.
