Heatley Phil: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
Heatley Phil: Electricity and Gas Industries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15704] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 Only the Labour Party supports this bill. It wants to see the Electricity Commission instated because it sees the commission’s prime role as being a taxation agent. The most important job of the Electricity Commission which is given rise to in this bill is to raise levies. 
Interestingly enough it does have a series of other roles and I would like to go through them because there are no fewer than 10—but its primary role is to impose levies. First of all it is to be a policy adviser. It is then to be a proposer of regulations and rules—so it will follow its own advice. It is to be a purchaser or provider of market operations. It is to be a purchaser of reserve power. It is already involved in the Whirinaki scheme. That generator is supposed to sit there and not be used. The levy payer somehow has to fund that particular generator to sit there and do nothing for month upon month and year upon year so that in a dry year when there is a shortage of electricity we can call upon it. Interestingly enough it has been wound up a number of times already. I have heard that it has been wound up almost fortnightly. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: I thank the member for Banks Peninsula for returning to the Chamber in all her enthusiasm to hear the completion of my speech. I was talking about the roles of the Electricity Commission which seem not only numerous but in conflict with one another. I mentioned that the commission would be a policy adviser as well as a proposer of regulations and rules. Therefore following its own policy it will set regulations and rules. I do not know where the checks are there. It will be a purchaser or provider of market operations and a purchaser of reserve power. 
I was dwelling on the fact that the Minister of Energy and the future Electricity Commission seem quite delighted at the idea of money being spent on the Whirinaki station which is supposed to sit there in the dry years and not be used. In other words the taxpayer or levy payer funds that beast—that white elephant—which does nothing because its generation is excess in case there is a dry year. I wonder at the absurdity of that. To prove the point we find that that particular power source has been generating regularly over the course of the winter which is quite amazing given that it is supposed to be there to provide reserve power in times of particular shortage. 
The Electricity Commission has a fifth role as a seller of electricity in dry years—clearly from that reserve power—a sixth as an adjudicator of fines and penalties and a seventh as an industry facilitator. 
John Key 
: What does that mean? 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: That means it sits in the middle loving all sides not making the hard decisions engaging in a bit of hand-wringing and being indecisive—sending recommendations up the chain but not taking any responsibility. It has an eighth role as a promoter of energy conservation and a ninth as a decision maker over the investment services and prices of State-owned enterprises. Certainly in the electricity industry there are plenty of State-owned enterprises. In fact I do not think the New Zealand public knows that this Government is up to its eyeballs in electricity generation. There is a belief out there that electricity generation is in the hands of private enterprise yet we know that by far the largest generators—both in size and number—are Government owned and are filling Dr Cullen’s pockets. The tenth role under the Commerce Act is as a regulator of the prices and services of distribution.