Brown Peter: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:10804] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Let me make it clear from the outset that New Zealand First supports the Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Amendment Bill. The sad thing about it is that we have to have this bill at all. That is a sad indictment on this country. 
Let me talk a little bit about the disconnection regulation. It is to underpin and ensure that the electricity companies actually do the job that is required of them. What happened in May with the Muliaga family was a disgrace—an absolute disgrace. I listened to the Labour speaker Maryan Street who said that she commended the companies for having the Jonah Lomu advertisement. Every time I see that ad I think of sadness and ask myself why we have to pay out this money to do something that is really just decent common sense: people who are on a life-support system do not get their power turned off. Everyone has a great love for Jonah and a great respect for him not only for what he did on the rugby field but for what he has gone through in his private life. 
Hon Mita Ririnui 
: He was on life support. 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes he relied on it and he is a good man to use as an example but we should not have had to use him. We should have contractors who when they walk into a house and see someone on a life-support system or even suspect that someone is on one will say they will not turn off the power until they get the matter clear one way or another and check with their employers or whoever gave them the contract. Now we are in the sad situation of having to produce legislation that will underpin the power companies to ensure they take a compassionate view and a compassionate attitude to this type of predicament. So New Zealand First has no hesitation in supporting this bill for that reason alone. 
The second area that the bill covers the low fixed charge also makes common sense. The threshold of 8000 kilowatt-hours is not enough for the colder parts of New Zealand—people do not sign up to it. We need to increase the threshold lower the line charge and raise the charge per kilowatt-hour. At 9000 kilowatt-hours it all balances even and if people use less than that they should make a saving. I do not know much that saving is—I think Gerry Brownlee alluded to it being $18—but the thing is we have to deliver electricity to all people everywhere particularly elderly people living in very cold areas and we welcome this change. Whether it is enough I do not know. 
I have to say that I agree with Gerry Brownlee—and this is probably a little bit worrying—on his point that we do not generate enough electricity in this country. I think he is spot on. Something went wrong after the Bradford reforms. We were told at the time of the Bradford reforms that a competitive environment would get these generating companies competing and that they would all have a surplus and the price would go down. But actually the reverse has happened; the generating companies produce just what they need—what they can sell and at the price they can sell it—and the market price goes up as a result. 
I have to say—and I know people will call me a heathen—that I would maximise our use of hydro power. They will not call me a heathen for that. I would maximise our use of wind power. I would maximise our use of tidal power. I would even look closely at wave power. The Minister of Energy will shudder now but I would have a gas-fired power station in Otahuhu tomorrow. Contact Energy would have a gas-fired power station in Otahuhu tomorrow if it got the OK and I would agree with it. I will go—I hope if Genesis invites me—to the official opening of E3P with glee. 
I ask members to imagine the situation we would have if E3P had not occurred. This Government gave the go-ahead and underwrote the gas and now “gas” is a dirty word. An even dirtier word is “coal”. It is an absolute dirty word. We have one coal-fired power station and we have all the greenies kicking up here there and everywhere. China brings on stream three or four coal-fired power stations a month and we say: “What about global warming? Close down Huntly!”. Or some people say that; I do not say it—I hope that the Huntly power station goes on forever. 
I am moving into the subject of climate change and have digressed from the bill but I know that the members opposite are learning and are finding this quite interesting. Let me say that if we want to solve climate change at a practical level—never mind that we introduce carbon tax or emissions trading schemes—we will have to address at a practical level the emissions that come from coal. Forty percent of the world’s energy is derived from coal. In Australia 75 percent of energy is derived from coal. China as I said is producing a coal-fired power station every 10 or so days. If we want to change the climate to change the carbon dioxide emissions or the carbon dioxide equivalents we will have to address the coal problem on a global basis. 
Hon David Parker 
: I agree. 
PETER BROWN 
: The Minister agrees. So I am against chastising and slagging off New Zealanders—as my Green Party colleague will stand up and do immediately after me in all probability—because we have one coal-fired power station delivering 1000 megawatts. That is all we have. 
I have digressed quite a lot on this bill. I want to see it go to select committee. I have read the bill fairly quickly a couple of times and I cannot see that it is in need of a great deal of amending; it seems to set out pretty clearly what it intends to do. I have no doubt that the select committee will give the bill a thorough examination and possibly find that a few adjustments are needed. But I hope at the end of the day and in reasonably fast order that this bill comes back to the House and we can do something a little bit positive—although if we had done the right thing in terms of the disconnection policy we would not need a bill like this and it is sort of sad to think about it. 
But we do need the bill and we do need to address the low fixed-charge rate and make it fairer all round for New Zealanders certainly for those who live in the cold and certainly for the elderly people who are living on fixed incomes in the cold. I shudder from time to time to think how they exist. When I was in Dunedin a few years back I met a few elderly people who told me stories of sitting in their beds all day wrapped up in blankets. There is an obligation on us to show a little compassion on the two fronts here. New Zealand First will support this bill.