3. JO GOODHEW (National—Rangitata) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy and Resources
What steps is he taking to ensure that “electricity is produced and delivered to all classes of consumers in an efficient, fair, reliable, and environmentally sustainable manner”?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Energy and Resources) Link to this
This morning I announced a ministerial review of electricity market performance. The Government is very concerned, as are consumers, about the affordability of electricity, security of supply, and regulatory governance arrangements within the sector. A number of reports into these matters are being, or have been, carried out by various agencies, and it makes sense to draw these threads into one body of work. The purpose of the review will be to improve the performance of the electricity market and its governance arrangements, in order to better achieve the Government’s objectives for the electricity sector. It is interesting to note that the essence of the question asked by the member is contained in the Electricity Act from some time back, but apparently this had no relevance to the previous Government for some 9 years, as it allowed the retail price of electricity to rise by some 72 percent, against just a 28 percent CPI increase. That is why something has to be done and why we are doing it.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. We are very surprised that the House was able to be subjected to an answer from the Minister that was quite as long as that. It was clearly getting into the category of being a speech rather than a succinct answer. I thought that if short questions were asked, short answers would be expected. [ Interruption]
Mr SPEAKERI hear the member’s point, and I say to Ministers that answers have been excessively long today. It is April Fool’s Day, I guess—
Hon Annette KingOK; so that is no excuse. [ Interruption] I ask honourable members to please ease back a little, because it is getting very hard to hear. There is nothing wrong with the House being robust. The issues that have been raised in question time today are issues where opinions are held passionately. There is no problem with question time being robust, but it is getting quite hard to hear, and answers are too long.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I have appointed a technical advisory team of independent experts to work alongside a project team of officials from the Ministry of Economic Development and from Treasury. The team will carry out much of the work but will report to me. The work will proceed in two phases. The first phase will look at regulatory and governance arrangements, and the second phase will take a broader look at the operation of the electricity market.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
Is the Minister concerned that the $74 million that Genesis has spent on planning for the Rodney gas-fired power station—which even it admits will probably never be built—actually represents more than 2.5c a kilowatt-hour for all the electricity it sells, which is four times its recent price increase; and when will he tell it to stop putting up power prices in order to pay for a white elephant?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The decisions around the Genesis proposals are operational matters and are not for any Minister to make, but what I would say is that the decision to even consider that project indicates why we desperately need to look at a review of governance arrangements inside the marketing of electricity in this country.
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
The Government has published a new Draft Government Policy Statement on Electricity Governance, which proposes streamlined and simplified processes for transmission investments of under $20 million. The current processes can involve lengthy duplication and engineering and systems planning. The consultation on the policy statement has now finished. The Government will shortly be announcing the new Government policy statement.
Charles ChauvelWhich of the following measures taken already by his Government will contribute most effectively to the energy goals outlined by the primary questioner: throwing climate change policy into confusion by setting up a select committee on whether to retain the emissions trading scheme when that scheme is already in force, getting rid of the biofuels obligation, legislating in a way that leads directly to consent being given to a gas-fired power station that has no forward contract for gas supplies, having a Prime Minister who continues to leave open the science on climate change, calling in State-owned enterprise chairs to the Beehive to demand higher dividends, or referring to a project to paint power pylons as “a major upgrade to the national grid”?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE Link to this
I do not know how that member can believe that anyone could separate out any one thing that needs to be done to sort out the enormous mess that the Labour Government left behind. What consumers know is that a 72 percent price rise for electricity for residential consumers, as against a 29 percent CPI increase over the same period, is an utter disgrace. That member should not be asking any questions; he should simply be listening and learning.