Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16472. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert)to the Minister of Energy and Resources: What is his Ministry’s best estimate for the percentage increase in retail electricity prices for the period 1 February to 1 August this year for a household of four persons averaged across New Zealand?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources):Firstly can I congratulate the member for asking me his first ever question—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister will simply stand and answer the question that has been asked.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order and it will be heard in silence.Grant Robertson: You have now had cause to intervene in every answer from a Government Minister today to a question from an Opposition member where they have breached the Standing Orders. I would ask that we be granted an additional supplementary question in light of that.Mr SPEAKER: I will consider that when I hear the quality of the supplementary questions that are being asked. The Hon Simon Bridges will now rise and answer the question that has been asked.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The ministry’s best estimate based on increases in transmission and line charges is an average increase—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am having trouble hearing this answer and I think it would be helpful to members if we could have—Hon David Cunliffe: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You are quite right to point out that there is some noise coming from the Opposition benches behind me. But you may wish to note that that occurred after the previous exchange of points of order where you ruled that it was a matter of the supplementary questions and not the Minister’s original answer that—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I think the House needs to settle down. The question has been asked and I require the Minister to now answer that question. Where we go to with further supplementary questions is a matter I will consider.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The ministry’s best estimate based on increases in transmission and line charges is an average increase of 2.6 percent from 1 April. Advertised price increases tell only of course part of the story. There are sharp deals for customers who shop around. For example discounts of between $80 and $300 are available effectively reducing a power bill by up to 13.8 percent for an average consumer. I would also remind members on that side of the House that this Government has halved the runaway price increases that they sat back and did nothing about on their watch.David Shearer: Does he stand by the Prime Minister’s statement that electricity increases “are a result of the increasing costs they face because of the upgrade of the grid by Transpower” or that of Transpower itself which said that “transmission charges made up only a small part—less than 10 percent—of … power bills” and therefore could not possibly be responsible for those increases?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I agree with the Prime Minister.David Shearer: Can he fall back on the consumer price switching model as he calls it when the agency Covec on behalf of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment produced a report that said that the switching had no significant effect on retail prices or on competitiveness?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: That is not quite what it said. As I said in the answer to the primary question people who do shop around can see some $80 to $300 discounts. We are seeing increasingly sharp discounts for paying online paying on time and so on. Of course those discounts I talked about are in the vicinity of being much higher than the overall price increases that we are seeing from 1 April.David Shearer: Why does he tell the people of New Zealand many of whom have written in to me—with price increases of up to 20 percent—that their prices are going up by only 2.6 percent when at the same time the prices of electricity here in Wellington are going up by 7 percent and only less than half of that can be attributed to Transpower and lines charges?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Obviously at 20 percent—24 percent I think the member has talked about—they are absolute outliers. I have already given the average which is much lower than that. But it is hard to take a lecture on policy from the Labour Party when David Parker and Russel Norman last week would not answer any more questions on the detail of their so-called NZ Power plan.David Shearer: Does the Minister agree with the Prime Minister that the electricity market is “operating effectively and transparently”; if so why is the Electricity Authority investigating it for a lack of transparency?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: The reforms of this Government have halved the steep power price increases we saw in a tweet from David Cunliffe last week when he railed against price increases. We believe we have got a competitive market that is becoming more competitive and where there are a lot of options for customers who shop around. But I happen to agree with the Electricity Authority that transparency is something where there is room for improvement and that is why I am focused on that and am making sure that it is focused on that and that it is working on that issue vis-à-vis power bills.David Shearer: I seek leave for the Electricity (Transparency) Bill—in light of his answer just now—in my name to be introduced as a member’s bill and set down for first reading on the next sitting day.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought for that course of action. Is there any objection? There is objection.