7. Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy
Did the report to the Cabinet Policy Committee yesterday identify why power to 700,000 people could be disrupted for hours by the failure of a single earth wire, and when will this vulnerability be fixed?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Acting Minister of Energy) Link to this
Yes, and the report we will receive next week may be able to give a time-scale on reducing the vulnerability.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
Why did Helen Clark tell Parliament yesterday that “Transpower has been investing, on average, around $300 million per annum in its system.”, when the annual report for Transpower shows capital expenditure of $61 million in 2000, $65 million in 2001, $89 million in 2002, $104 million in 2003, $93 million in 2004, and $106 million in 2005—making the Prime Minister’s statement grossly incorrect?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
I am not sure which years the Prime Minister was averaging, but I can give the member an assurance that current levels of capital investment are about 500 percent more than the level approved during the time he was a Minister.
Maryan StreetHas the Minister seen any evidence that previous Government policy may have led to under-investment in the national grid?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
Yes. Under the previous approach, in which the market was supposed to sort everything out, investment in the national grid fell as low as $52 million a year. By contrast, this Government is spending about $300 million per year on improvements to the national grid. This year it is spending about $300 million a year on capital expenditure, and I expect Transpower to spend substantially more in the future because of the need to do more catch-up work as a result of gross underexpenditure following the negligent approach Nick Smith and his colleagues led.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
Why has the Government stated that Transpower has no issues with the Resource Management Act because the Government addressed all of its issues in the amendment bill last year, when Transpower in its submission to the select committee identified eight areas where the bill fell short of the changes that were needed to ensure it could provide a secure national grid; now, having had Monday’s massive blackout, will the Government reconsider those proposed amendments to the Resource Management Act from Transpower?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
No amendment to the Resource Management Act will stop an attachment to a pole coming loose.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
Why did the Government today issue a press statement saying that Transpower had no issue with the Resource Management Act now, when it was specifically mentioned by its chief executive officer, Ralph Craven, in a presentation to the Energy Law Association on 10 November last year, where he said that the time and cost associated with resource consents was impacting on getting timely upgrades, when in March this year, at the Commerce Committee, Transpower again raised the issue of the Resource Management Act, and when on Monday after the blackout its spokesperson specifically raised the issue of the Resource Management Act; is the only reason Transpower is not saying the same today that the bully-boys in the Government who are squirming have sat on Transpower and told it that it should not tell the truth any more?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
We do not take that approach to State-owned enterprise chief executive officers. It may have been the approach that occurred previously. I can give an absolute assurance that I have made no such threat and, in fact, I have not spoken to Dr Craven since the events of Monday.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
Why, in response to parliamentary written questions about a Transpower failure affecting 30,000 Nelson households on 25 March, in which I asked what caused the failure, what investigation would be undertaken, and what steps would be taken to fix the problems, did he duck all those questions, saying it was “just an operational matter”, and can he today assure the House he will not use the same technique to deny the public and the Parliament the information on what went wrong on Monday?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
In fact, it appears a wire did not break; it appears the thing the wire was attached to broke. That is clear; that is undeniable. We will have some more reports next week that the member can salivate over.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
Why, in February last year, when the chief executive of New Zealand’s largest electricity company, Dr Keith Turner, warned the Government very explicitly that the transmission system was in trouble—saying that the grid was overworked, that lines could not be taken out for servicing, and that this was unheard of in the developed world—did the Minister not seek an urgent report and action plan to address those shortcomings, given that he was the Minister of Energy responsible for the sector at that time?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
Because I was aware of a massive increase in the investment in the transmission system between that year and this year—in fact, more than a doubling.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
I seek the leave of the House to table the annual reports from 1995 to 2005 showing the capital investment programme of Transpower, making a lie of both the Prime Minister’s claims and those of the Minister with regard to the changes in investment.
Madam SPEAKERLeave is sought to table that document, but the member, in seeking leave, said that the Prime Minister and a Minister had lied—
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
I withdraw and apologise. I seek simply to say that the statements made by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy were incorrect with regard to the capital expenditure of Transpower.
Hon Dr Nick Smith Link to this
I seek the leave of the House to table the news release today from the Government that states that Transpower had no difficulties with the Resource Management Act after it had been amended, and Transpower’s own submission to the select committee, which tells a very different story.