6. Electricity Market—Consumer and Industry PricesFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesElectricity Market—Consumer and Industry Prices6. FLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Why hasn't the Government called for a full-scale inquiry into retail electricity prices given the percentage increase in power pricing?Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Energy and Resources): We are not calling for a full-scale inquiry into retail electricity prices because there is no reason to. The electricity market is more competitive than it has ever been following this Government's 2009 Ministerial Review of Electricity Market Performance. Retail power prices have fallen in real terms for the first time in 15 years in the year to March 2016 by 2.1 percent. Statistics New Zealand's 2015-16 household expenditure survey shows electricity is just 2.9 percent of average weekly household expenditure—the lowest proportion of household budget since 2000-01. That compares with 3.6 percent in the previous survey of 2012-13. That is a decrease of 5.6 percent.Fletcher Tabuteau: Can she explain to Kiwi families and small businesses why electricity prices have skyrocketed 148 percent since National's so-called 1998 reforms that were meant to lower prices? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will hear from the Hon Judith Collins. [Interruption] Order!Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Thank you Mr Speaker. Well the member is simply wrong. I am happy to provide and to table for that member's benefit the figures given to me by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment relating to this. These are of course obtained specifically from the Department of Statistics.Fletcher Tabuteau: How could wholesale electricity prices like at Ōtāhuhu for example average just over 6 cents per kilowatt hour but become 29 cents per kilowatt hour once sold to consumers and small businesses?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well I suggest that there is often a difference between wholesale prices and retail prices.Fletcher Tabuteau: Does she believe that after-tax profits of over half a billion dollars reported by Mercury Meridian and Genesis last year alone are good for struggling households on fixed incomes or for that matter small businesses just trying to stay afloat?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think that if we can say the average electricity spend for a household is just 2.9 percent of the average weekly household expenditure then that is actually a relatively good percentage compared with many other places in the world. I would say that our electricity market has not undergone some of the issues that some other electricity markets have particularly around security of supply.Point of Order—Points of Order Raised During Points of OrderRICHARD PROSSER (NZ First): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance with regard to the point of order raised by Mr Mark in the earlier question. During the course of making his point of order he sought to make another point of order. Looking at Speaker's ruling 21/6 it says: If members take exception to anything said in the course of debate which they consider a breach of order that it is their duty to point out they should do so at once and not take it upon themselves to deal with it later in the debate." This refers to debate obviously and there does not appear to be anything in the Standing Orders to preclude the calling of a point of order within a point of order. I wonder whether you could give some thought to this and perhaps come back to us and clarify whether doing so at once—in other words calling attention to a breach of order which Mr Mark was with reference to an interjection—Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House): One of the important things about calling a point of order is that it is in fact a point of order and not something you devise to attract attention to oneself.RON MARK (NZ First): That is precisely the point. How would you or Mr Brownlee know whether my second point of order was or was not a legitimate point of order if you did not hear it? If Mr Brownlee has got a crystal ball down there I would love to have a look at it sometime! [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: And I myself am blushing. [Interruption] Could we have a little bit of order while I rule on this matter. [Interruption] Order! All points of order and circumstances—I am addressing Richard Prosser's point of order—are never quite the same on two occasions. When I consider the laborious process Mr Mark was going through in seeking to table documents that he thought might have been informative to the House but when I consider them now were more about making a political point inevitably there is going to be an objection or an interjection across the House. It should not happen but it is no different than an answer being given recently by Minister Judith Collins and Mr Winston Peters taking objection to it and interjecting to that answer across the House. I will do my best to maintain order in the House and it is certainly not helped by the last point of order raised by Ron Mark.RON MARK (NZ First): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Is it a fresh point of order?RON MARK: Yes totally. Shall I take it now from your very considered view just given Mr Speaker that if I think a Government member is giving a laborious reply or a laborious point of order it is quite OK for me to interject like that man over there did?Mr SPEAKER: I remind the member that on many many occasions he has done just that."