11. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy and Resources
Does she stand by the Government’s decision to require Meridian Energy to sell some of its hydro-electricity dams on the Waitaki River to Genesis Energy, and how have the proceeds of the sale been used?
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Acting Minister of Energy and Resources) Link to this
Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. To the first part of the question, yes, and to the second part of the question, that is a matter of responsibility for the Minister for State Owned Enterprises. But the Minister of Finance has already referred to it in a couple of his answers this afternoon, and my understanding is that a special dividend of around $520 million was returned to the Crown.
Could steps like the requirement to sell those assets from Meridian Energy to Genesis Energy have been taken if Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy had been in partial private ownership; if so, how would the Government have achieved that?
That is not the situation we have, and speculating on what might happen under what is proposed does not seem to me to be a reasonable question.
Is the Minister, then, now giving notice to anyone considering buying shares in these companies if they are sold that National might, for market reasons, intervene, with repercussions on the value of shares?
Hon Craig FossIs the Minister, then, now admitting that following the privatisation of shares in Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy, the Government’s ability to intervene in the market in order to get better prices is to be constrained?
Mr SPEAKERGiven that following the privatisation of the shares, the Crown would have fewer options for controlling excess electricity prices, why does the Minister dismiss the concerns of Grey Power that her Government’s privatisation plans would lead to higher power prices?
First of all, those suppositions are incorrect. But, if I may, I will refer the member to the consumer switching statistics, which have doubled from the end of 2009 to July this year in terms of the number of consumers who have switched companies to find a more competitive power price for themselves. I think that Grey Power will find that is very helpful to its members.