7. Electricity Market Taranaki - King Country—Prices and Government ResponseFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesElectricity Market Taranaki - King Country—Prices and Government Response7. FLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: If she will not initiate an inquiry into retail electricity prices does she at least agree with the PWC report which recommends completely changing The Lines Company pricing model in the Taranaki/King Country?Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I am aware that there have been issues with the pricing methodology that The Lines Company has in place. In fact as the member will be aware the Commerce Committee has considered petitions on the matter. The Lines Company makes its own decisions on pricing within the regulatory framework administered by the Commerce Commission; however I can also advise the member that the Electricity Authority is currently reviewing aspects of The Line Company's pricing specifically the related load control practices the incentives it places on customers and the outcomes it influences. The review is due to be completed in May or June of this year. It will be publicly released and I will be sure to get the member a copy.Fletcher Tabuteau: Why have the Minister and her Government done nothing in their 9-year reign to help the people of Taranaki - King Country who have literally lost their lives lost their dignity and lost their livelihoods under the current pricing model?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well I do not think we would ever call ourselves so regal that we would have to have a reign" but I would refer the member to the Commerce Committee of which his colleague Ria Bond was a member which in 2015 when looking at this very issue said in a unanimous report "We found no evidence that the pricing model is incorrect or being incorrectly applied by TLC."—being of course The Lines Company. "We are satisfied that TLC's pricing methodology is legal and in many circumstances has delivered savings to consumers. Furthermore we are satisfied that the Electricity Authority and the Commerce Commission have thoroughly and fairly investigated all the complaints they have received about the company." So to say that we have done nothing is quite wrong. In fact Parliament has taken this issue very seriously.Fletcher Tabuteau: When she is told "My family and I live and sleep in our lounge during the winter. We're too afraid to turn the heater on in case our lines charges double in the next year." why has she not acted previously or does she think that her Government has no role to play in these people's lives?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think the member should review what I just told him in answer to his previous supplementary question. In fact Parliament has acted. In fact I was a member of the Commerce Committee as was his colleague Ria Bond. We listened to those submissions very carefully. I would also remind him that board of The Lines Company are the people who actually instigated the PricewaterhouseCoopers report to which he is referring.Fletcher Tabuteau: When she was told "We've had to shut down accommodation in the district as tourists turn on the heaters because it's cold which sends the cost of electricity supply to our businesses through the roof in the following year." did she not think the Government should have intervened at least 9 years ago or is this Government not interested in regional New Zealand business? Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think the member really does need to actually go back and listen to what I have already told him and to go back to the excellent report from the Commerce Committee which is the response to the 2014/0001 petition and actually also consider that the Electricity Authority is already considering this very matter as it should do under the law—because unlike that member I think we should always follow the law.Fletcher Tabuteau: What assurances can the Minister give that this large and critical region of New Zealand where farmers homeowners fixed-income earners and elderly and even our small-to-medium enterprises have been ignored by the Minister and her predecessors? What assurances will she give that these people will actually have the support of her Government in the 5 months that it has left in office? Hon JUDITH COLLINS: No one is ignoring that excellent region of New Zealand from which so many of my family hails."