Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:608;Page:5552] 
5.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (NZ National—Ilam) 
 to the  
Minister of Energy 
: Does he support the call by the Winter Power Task Force for hot water to be switched off for up to 18 hours a day if a 10 percent voluntary domestic power savings target is not met by the end of the month; if so why? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Energy 
: The answer from the Minister of Energy who as we know is doing good work at this time is that he is advised that the Winter Power Task Force is not calling for hot water to be “switched off” as the member puts it. The task force is doing everything it can to avoid disruptions to the power supply and has pointed out the fact that 10 percent savings will help make more severe measures unnecessary. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Surely that answer cannot be accepted because this question would not be on the Order Paper if we had not had to take verification of that statement being made by the Winter Power Task Force to the Clerk’s Office this morning. The whole integrity of question time is at stake here I think. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The point made by the member is absolutely correct but in fact the Minister did not agree with that particular comment. He is entitled to do that as Minister. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: The Minister has said that the statement was not made. Who is right? Us and the Clerk or the Minister—the acting Minister? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I will repeat my answer. The Minister is advised—my colleague who is in charge—that the Winter Power Task Force is not calling for hot water to be “switched off” as the member puts it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Right—and that was the answer that I heard. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It is quite clear that he cannot address this question. There seems to be a totally different view of the information on which the question is based. I seek the leave of the House for this question to be held over until the Minister of Energy is back in the House. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Has he seen electricity industry players’ suggestions that domestic consumers need short sharp shocks and a few cold showers to get them to save power and does he support this method of introducing power savings; if so how soon would he suggest it start? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: For some consumers opposite quite soon. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Could the Minister explain to the House why New Zealanders are being urged to save power including having short sharp showers if not cold showers when the Tongariro power scheme is not running to capacity and instead water is being spilt in vast volumes down the Whanganui River? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That question has a level of detail that as a Minister acting for a Minister in this House I do not have. [ 
Interruption 
] I do not have the information about every power scheme and I suggest the member puts the question to the Minister as a substantive question. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Although I have to accept the Minister’s assurance that he does not know surely there is some obligation to have an acting Minister who knows something. I would have said that most members of Parliament are well aware of the fact that this Government put pressure on Genesis Energy to settle a Maori claim to the Whanganui River. I would have said that most MPs are aware that the Tongariro power scheme which cost multimillions to build is now hardly running at all. Most MPs know that that is one of the reasons for the power shortage but the acting Minister tells us and we have to accept his word that he does not. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well as the member just said the Minister had a perfectly proper way of responding. Whether it was satisfactory is another question. 
Darren Hughes 
: What contribution will the Government sector make to power savings? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Cabinet has set a 15 percent target for the Government sector. Archives New Zealand for example has estimated that it is now saving 20 percent of its usual consumption. The State Services Commission has a number of interesting proposals. It has asked cleaners not to do their night cleaning to vacuum once a week and to do all other cleaning during daylight hours rather than have the banks of lights on. Timers have been added to the hot water boilers so they do not operate between 5.30 and 7 and—this is something that might be somewhat of a flashback for some of us—it has been recommended that they wear jerseys if they are cold. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Before the Minister allows cold showers to be forced on all householders who have no alternative source of hot water will he ensure that every significant commercial industrial and retail user of electricity is visited by an official from Government or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to advise on how it can cut its power use without reducing production safety or health? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think it would not be appropriate for me to make that undertaking here. 
Stephen Franks 
: Does the Government agree with the advice of Tim Saunders chairman of the State-owned enterprise Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd that new coal-based high efficiency electricity generation with negligible pollutant emissions could maintain the wholesale electricity price at 5c to 6c per kilowatt-hour near current rates for hundreds of years; if so why is another State-owned enterprise forced to import coal from Indonesia and Australia—half a million tonnes this year? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think it is a question of having the coal and the coal-fired power stations not in the same places—in fact not in the same islands. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: When the Minister said in the House yesterday that he would be making an announcement about future generation this week was he referring to the Meridian Te Apiti wind farm; if so how likely is this project to help with the current crisis given that New Zealand’s consumption last month was on average 94604 megawatts per day and this project will perhaps by 2005 produce only 2400 megawatts per day? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: No.