Goodhew Jo: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Goodhew Jo: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:10827] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
[The motion that the bill be read a first time was wrongly inserted and has been removed.] 
When the debate on the Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill was interrupted I was beginning to speak about the first part the disconnection provisions. The whole discussion on the issue of disconnection of electricity is a very timely one to have for many reasons. The principal reason for the introduction of this bill it would seem is the tragic and untimely death of Mrs Muliaga and we can understand the anxiety felt by other New Zealanders whose health issues mean they have to rely on electricity. Those same people will be wanting some assurance that the same fate will not befall them should their electricity be disconnected. 
But those people are not the only New Zealanders who worry about their electricity being disconnected or about the power going off. First of all none of us likes being cold and we do rely on electricity to keep ourselves warm. Secondly some people rely on things like coal and wood. We know that under this Government those who rely on woodburners are feeling increasingly anxious. The reason is that the Government has proposed to adopt clean air standards by 2013 which will put significant pressure on many in my electorate in particular. I know that the people of Aoraki after the very sudden disconnection of power for many thousands of them on 12 June found themselves even more sure that they did not want to part with their woodburners. In some cases it was 23 days before the power came back on in Aoraki. So although the disconnection provisions might seek to tidy up where the Government believes there are some problems they may seem a little shallow to those of us who face other legislative or regulatory requirements in terms of turning our source of warmth to electricity only and not in fact being able to use our woodburners or coal fires also. 
National realises that there are many reasons why we should be concerned about electricity generation into the future. In this respect people will certainly find that a National Government will be willing to take some actions. Under National people will find that we will urgently—and we keep saying this—introduce a substantive amendment to the Resource Management Act. We will seek to amend that Act and do so as quickly as possible because for many many reasons that is urgently required by New Zealanders. We will also work with the electricity industry to develop a generating and transmission plan because you see New Zealanders are worried that the lights will go out not just because somebody turned them off but because there is not enough electricity generation to meet our ever-increasing needs. 
We will also restructure the Electricity Commission allow lines companies to enter into generation and introduce transparency into billing so that consumers can see where the cost of electricity lies. We will also support the goals of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and work on practical measures to encourage more oil and gas exploration. With a Minister of Infrastructure under a National Government there will be the opportunity to oversee and help push through vital infrastructural development that will result in more generation of electricity in New Zealand. We will remove the barriers in the way of increased investment in electricity generation and transmission and in the way of oil and gas exploration. 
The second part of this bill seeks to address low fixed-charge tariffs for people who are not using very much power. I want to tell members what the people of Aoraki said when they saw this reported in the paper. The first few words in the article in the newspaper included “scorn” and “disappointment”. Although the Minister of Energy David Parker had said low fixed-charges would be increased from 8000 kilowatt hours to 9000 kilowatt hours the people of Aoraki very quickly got to grips with what that would actually mean in real dollar terms. For many it would mean a lessening of their power bills by—wait for it—$18 to $20. The man responsible for the Timaru Budget Advisory Service Don Macfarlane who is the coordinator of that service put it very succinctly. He said: “Wow—that’s half a loaf of bread a week if people buy the really cheap bread.” That really put it into perspective did it not—$20 a year for these people? 
We understand what it means for the people who are on low incomes because over the last 5 years they have faced an increase in their residential power prices of up to 48 percent—48 percent! Industrial and commercial power prices have gone up by 25 percent over that time but residential power prices have increased by up to 48 percent. It is therefore no wonder that my electorate office gets phone calls from constituents. Sometimes it is the constituents themselves who ring to say they cannot afford the power; the rest of the time it is people who ring on behalf of their neighbours or of elderly people who have discovered that the only way for them to survive the winter is to go to bed with their woolly socks on and a hot water bottle and stay there. This is during the day; we are not talking about night time. These people are taking to their beds so they can survive the winter and the power price increases. 
But it was not just Mr Macfarlane who had something to say about this change in the low fixed-charges for power. The president of Timaru Grey Power Len Cummings also said it was ridiculous. He said: “It’s not very much. I don’t know why they bother. It almost seems that they have a contempt for people.” Maybe the Minister thought this lessening of prices would be quite a good banner headline. But in fact the banner headline in the  
Timaru Herald 
 was: “Govt chips at power bills”. That said it all. The Minister said that “a customer using 8000 kWh each year in the lower South Island should be around $20 per annum better off”. So he knew how much or how little it was but he still thought that this might get him a good banner headline. But wait there is more! We then discovered that many people will be paying more for their power to allow South Island households to pay $20 per annum less. 
Why do South Island households need this break? The reason of course is that they have to use a lot more power because it is a whole lot colder down there. Actually we do not mind because although it can get very very cold we have beautiful sunny days after a hard frost. But by golly when temperatures are subzero we do need to heat our houses. TrustPower said it is very concerned about having to rejig power prices and about how much it will charge per unit because in reality if it makes it cheaper for some consumers then others will have to pay more. 
So the bill is not the good news that New Zealanders thought it would be. The Government said that the intention is to make things safer for those people who have to rely on power perhaps to keep themselves alive. But is this overkill? Do power companies not already have a responsibility to see that those people are protected? If that is the case then this bill is unnecessary. 
The National Party will support the bill going through to the select committee because we think that is where these issues should be discussed. The bill is too little too late for some and certainly not enough for the people of Aoraki.