Hereora Dave: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Hereora Dave: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
: 
 I take this opportunity to take a call in support of the third reading of the Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill and I want to highlight the two parts of the bill. As the title of the bill indicates this bill deals with both the disconnection of electricity and low fixed charges. 
In respect of disconnection I would ask the following questions. Were power companies being overzealous in threatening to cut off power due to late payment? And if we revisit the tragic episode that occurred last May was that due to a lack of awareness of that whanau’s situation and their dependency on electricity or was it simply the case that a company that supplied essential services did not bother to treat its customers as customers but rather treated them with contempt? I think those critical questions need to be explored. 
Whatever the reason may be for that tragedy it has become clear that in the absence of a social conscience within this industry particularly it is necessary to ensure that electricity retailers do more to observe a sense of social responsibility particularly towards those who are in desperate need and suffering financial difficulty. This also brings to mind the fact that we had to experience the loss of a life before doing something about this issue. When parts of our society breach that fine line—a lack of compassion—we feel a sense of loss. We all feel that sense of loss which leads to a fear that hardening attitudes will continue to crystallise. The bill in its title quite rightly promotes the word “disconnection”. 
Because of some of the issues I have raised there needed to be provision for electricity retailers to be able to provide domestic customers with better billing and payment options. We needed to look at the arrangements around the process of disconnection following the non-payment of accounts around reconnection and around billing information and processes and to look at alternative options such as smooth payments and the redirection of income. We also needed to consider the process for identifying those consumers who would be at risk if their electricity was to be disconnected. We needed to consider the supply of electricity or line function services by electricity retailers or distributors. We also needed to consider provisions for electricity retailers to provide domestic consumers with information about overdue accounts and disconnection processes provisions for them to be able to have access to information about a particular domestic consumer—or access to information about the account with the consumer’s authorisation—and also provisions to ensure that retailers must reconnect a domestic consumer’s electricity supply after a disconnection. 
We have a set of guidelines being promoted in this bill that will at the very least address the moral issue of social responsibility. It is designed to capture assistance support and financial help for those in need. 
The second part of the bill relates to low fixed charges. It is about regulating for low fixed-charge tariff options for domestic consumers. The purpose of that is to assist low-use domestic consumers and also to encourage energy efficiency. We learnt that low-use consumers in many areas were facing unreasonably high fixed daily charges for their limited or low electricity usage. The introduction of this regulation provides low-use consumers with a tariff option that is more equitable for low energy usage and is also compatible with the Government’s strategy on efficiency objectives. 
We are all aware that at the moment networks and retailers make available a low fixed-charge tariff option to all domestic consumers who have electricity consumption within their homes of less than 8000 kilowatt hours per annum. That is used as the threshold across the country despite the reality that in the colder parts of the South Island the average power use is higher than it is elsewhere in large part because the climate is colder and there is little reticulated gas available there. Further considerations surrounding the consumption data showed an adjustment to the low fixed-charge eligibility threshold of less than 8000 kilowatt hours per year was warranted because far fewer consumers are on the low fixed-charge tariff in the South Island than in any other part of the country. The bill alters the definition of a “low-use consumer” from that of someone who has a fixed threshold of less than 8000 kilowatt hours per annum to a definition that will be provided in the regulations to ensure that different regional locations and averages can be used. 
A second provision in the bill will extend the Minister’s power to grant exemptions from the application of the regulations to electricity distributors or retailers. This change is directed at small isolated networks that are not connected to the national grid. 
The key parts of this bill support Labour’s plan for the future to ensure the safety and well-being of all Kiwi whanau—that is to ensure that we continue to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Let us be confident that electricity retailers will follow these guidelines to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that occurred in May last year but members can be assured that the regulating power is an important last resort taken to ensure that the Government’s objectives are met. I commend this bill to the House.