Brown Peter: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
Brown Peter: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15708] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Firstly I want to acknowledge that the Minister made some very good points in his contribution as did Gerry Brownlee. When it comes to electricity this country is in an absolute mess. National knew that just before the 1999 election. I received panicked phone calls from Max Bradford. When he put through the 1998 reforms he did not listen to the advice of New Zealand First about putting through the appropriate amount of regulation. He did not regulate the lines for a start but he wanted to do so in 1999. New Zealand First though could not reach an agreement with National just before that election to tidy up the electricity industry. 
When Labour came to power it made an attempt to rectify the situation with the 2000 bill or whatever it was but I say with due respect to the Minister that it put the focus on making the market work as against getting the right outcomes. Right now electricity as it relates to the general public is in a mess. Prices are escalating weekly. 
Stephen Franks 
: You voted for it. 
PETER BROWN 
: We have not voted for this bill nor did we vote for the bill before it. 
Stephen Franks 
: You voted for the bill before. 
PETER BROWN 
: I tell Mr Franks that we did not vote for the bill before. He should check  
Hansard 
. We voted for this bill to go to the select— 
Stephen Franks 
: In 1998. 
PETER BROWN 
: In 1998 we did. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: That’s when the egg was broken. 
PETER BROWN 
: Can I take questions from these guys? 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Why did you vote for Max Bradford’s bill? 
PETER BROWN 
: There was a clause in Max Bradford’s bill that allowed for regulation but when it came to it he did not implement that. There was quite a discussion behind the scenes about why he did not. But in 1999 he wanted to do exactly that; that is the fact of the matter. 
From the public’s point of view electricity prices are escalating weekly if not daily. The supply is threatened—or appears to be threatened; is perceived to be threatened. Cheap gas is running low and that will affect the price even more. 
New Zealand First members asked themselves three very simple questions: firstly will this bill help to guarantee security of supply? It goes a little way to doing that by giving the regulators some power and some teeth. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How does it do that? 
PETER BROWN 
: It gives the Electricity Commission enough power to monitor the whole thing with a degree of independence. We have to be fair—the commission has an independent look about it. The bill goes some way to giving that independence. The second question we asked ourselves was whether the bill would provide fair and reasonable prices. It goes a teeny-weeny little way towards doing that because it brings in the 30c per day maximum lines rate. That is a reasonable little thing for low consumers of electricity. I say to Mr Brownlee that maybe he should read the bill—he will see that in it. 
But does the bill encourage investment into the industry— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: You don’t need a bill to do that. They could do that tomorrow if they wanted. 
PETER BROWN 
: I am not denying that to the member but that provision is in the bill and it does assist. The third question— 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Could you repeat that? I didn’t hear because he was talking. 
PETER BROWN 
: I said that the bill does provide for the 30c per day maximum lines rate for low users of electricity. That goes some way to reducing prices and New Zealand First is quite encouraged by that. 
The third question we asked ourselves was whether this bill would encourage investment into the industry to ensure ever-increasing capacity. I do not know how it will do that because I do not think it does. It makes a token gesture by allowing lines companies to increase generation capacity from 25 megawatts to 50 megawatts and makes a good argument for opening the door again so that lines companies can come in and become generators. I know the National Party wants to allow that. New Zealand First is not necessarily convinced that that is the way to go but we believe the token provided for in this bill is not good enough. 
In New Zealand we provide electricity to the amount on average of around 8000 megawatts per year and we use every megawatt. We use everything. In 1998 we had a surplus that we could sell. If we can produce something and sell it all effectively we have a very limited market—if a market at all. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: You can’t store the stuff. 
PETER BROWN 
: We cannot store it no. We sell it all. If anybody who produces electricity sells it all there is no market to put pressure on prices.