TASMANIA'S energy reforms will save $8 million in the long term, but the transition process will be expensive and cost jobs, Energy Minister Bryan Green says.
A new board to oversee the merger of Aurora Energy with Transend was announced yesterday.
The board will have an independent chairman and contain two people each from the boards of the two existing companies.
Their remuneration has not been announced.
Opposition energy spokesman Matthew Groom said the new board added another layer of bureaucracy and would lead to increased confusion and costs.
``The Liberals support the merger of Aurora and Transend, but we don't support the need for a new bureaucracy to bring it about,'' Mr Groom said.
Mr Green said he was not able to say how many jobs would be lost from Aurora's retail arm as a result of the reforms, but some job losses were inevitable.
``Those people working within Aurora serving customers as it stands at the moment are highly qualified . . . of course it's my hope that they will pick up jobs [with new retailers coming in],'' Mr Green said.
The merger is expected to be completed by July 1, 2014, but other electricity retailers would be operating in Tasmania from January next year.
Mr Green said Tasmanians would see the benefit of the state's centralised energy sector on their power bill.
He said that having all three boards operating simultaneously would ensure a smooth transition to the new company and provide certainty to employees.
Greens energy spokesman Kim Booth supported the establishment of a new independent board, but said the government's refusal to adopt measures to create wholesale competition meant its policy was simply the ``least worst'' option.
