Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNorman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 08 May 2013. Volume:689;Page:9630. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) to theMinister of Energy and Resources: Does he agree with the Minister of Finance that New Zealanders are not paying too much for electricity?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources): Yes I do. I also agree with the Minister of Finance’s recent comment that a lot of us do not like the power bills we get but the one thing that will be worse and more wasteful will be politicians running the electricity system. That will look cheap for a while and then you will find that the technology has not been upgraded that the new generation that we need has not actually turned up and then there will be a big spend by the Government to subsidise something and the prices will all go up.Dr Russel Norman: How much has the annual electricity bill of a typical Kiwi family increased by under his Government?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: By about half as much as it did under Labour and the Greens. It has gone up by about 4.5 percent not 8 percent under this Government. So in fact although we saw massive rises under Labour and the Greens we have halved that steep rise under this Government.Dr Russel Norman: I seek leave to table a document prepared by the Parliamentary Library showing that electricity bills have risen by $372.80 per year under this Government.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that paper prepared by the Parliamentary Library. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Dr Russel Norman: Given that electricity prices rose at six times the rate of inflation in the past year has the National Government been effective at bringing power prices down?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Yes because as I have already said we have halved the massive steep increases we saw under Labour and the Greens.Brendan Horan: What action is the Minister going to take for the people of Tauranga as statistics produced by his own Government show their power prices are rising 15 percent faster than the national average rise?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I am going to continue to ensure as Minister of Energy and Resources that we have an increasingly competitive system. The member might like to know that in Tauranga the main retailer is TrustPower where it provides acheque back to consumers of $375 a year. That is $3 more than Russel Norman says the prices went up by last year.Dr Russel Norman: Given that power bills for the average family did increase under his Government by $372 per year what is more important to his Government: profits for electricity company owners or power prices for Kiwi families and businesses?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Prices for Kiwi families.Dr Russel Norman: Why is the Minister comfortable with the constant increase in power prices under his Government’s electricity market settings when there are better alternatives that would result in cheaper power for Kiwi households and businesses?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Because we are ensuring an increasingly competitive system. We came into Government in 2008. We had a comprehensive review of the system. We made a raft of changes and as the Electricity Authority said very recently we have seen in the last year increased competitiveness in the retail market increased activity on the futures market and improved hydro management in response to a dry year. So we are doing the right things to make this an increasingly competitive market.Dr Russel Norman: If the Minister’s actions have been so successful why have prices increased at six times the rate of inflation over the last year?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well let me give the member an example of how successful they have been. Some 700000 people have switched since we introduced What’s My Number. In Auckland you can go from the most expensive to the least expensive retailer at the moment and save $343; in Wellington $418; in Christchurch $618; and in the South Island in Balclutha $485.Dr Russel Norman: Does he agree with the Commerce Commission’s independent Wolak report that electricity companies are overcharging by $700 million a year on average?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: My understanding is that that was based on very old data but to the extent that the member asked the question no I do not agree.Dr Russel Norman: Why do you not agree?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Because it is based on old figures. Mr Wolak based it on northern hemisphere examples rather than on what is happening in this country and we are a world away and have a very different set of circumstances from the examples he used.Dr Russel Norman: Why is it that the Minister prefers to listen to the advice from the electricity companies that they are not overcharging rather than listening to the advice of the independent report from the Commerce Commission which found that the electricity companies are overcharging by $700 million per year?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well I already answered that in my earlier—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I want to hear the answer.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I already answered that question in my earlier answer.Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was: why is he listening to the electricity companies rather than the Wolak report which was commissioned by the Commerce Commission?Mr SPEAKER: And the Minister answered that by saying that he had already answered that reasonably in the earlier question. That is quite satisfactory.Dr Russel Norman: What assurance if any can he offer New Zealand families and businesses that before the 2014 election electricity prices will return to the levels that they were when he entered office—when will they return to the original levels?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I offer them my absolute assurance and conviction that our market is becoming increasingly competitive and you see that in the very sharp deals that you can get all around New Zealand at the present time.Brendan Horan: I seek leave to table domestic electricity prices as released by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.Mr SPEAKER: Well if it is released by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is it freely available to all members on its website? Yes it is.