Bond Ria: Electricity Industry (Small-Scale Renewable Distributed Generation) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBond Ria: Electricity Industry (Small-Scale Renewable Distributed Generation) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:7909. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RIA BOND (NZ First): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to the Electricity Industry (Small-Scale Renewable Distributed Generation) Amendment Bill. The energy sector in New Zealand First’s opinion is essentially broken. There is a great deal of detail that needs to be debated in this House. However as time allows only a simple summary of these issues it is to state the very real fact that electricity prices have risen in real terms nearly 50 percent in this country.Originally the energy sector was publicly owned and democratically accountable. The industry aims were motivated by this question: how do we best benefit the people of New Zealand? Now electricity is not viewed as an essential service; instead the market system would rule where the question of profit maximising or even profiteering became the motivator of the individual organisations.Today this debate is about a fundamental question: what is the future of energy here in New Zealand? Is it the private sector? Is the private sector not in fact worried about the future of its core business? Is it worried and if it is worried is it supportive of empowering other businesses? I would like to quote from Gareth Hughes’ letter exactly what the intent of this bill will do: “This bill is a simple amendment of the Electricity Industry Act to empower the electricity authority to amend the electricity industry code and to act as an independent umpire.The reality is that New Zealand needs legislation like this. In fact it is only a start. In New Zealand we have plenty of sunshine hours and on average per annum we are looking at 2000 hours. I also want to point out that New Zealanders want a choice in whom they decide to spend their money with. I acknowledge that in today’s world consumer needs are much more diverse and consumers want more options.In Rotorua there is a marae generating its own electricity through geothermal hydro and solar-panelled energy sources. What it struggled to do was find somebody to buy back its surplus when the time was right. When it did find a retailer it excitedly signed up only to see its bucks drop down month by month.New Zealand First supports this bill because homeowners want to make environmentally and financially sound investments. This bill seeks to create fairness in the market; it seeks to address a real imbalance between the retailers and small independent generators. [Interruption] Sorry I am just finding my piece of paper. I have so much to say on this that I actually got lost in my paperwork. So in simple terms this bill seeks to amend the Electricity Act. If the Electricity Authority was independently empowered then the three tasks this bill sets out to achieve are a fair and reasonable buy-back rate standard contracts and standard connection frameworks across all regions.I find it odd that currently the power retailers are the very people who sell this power to the consumers and are also the very people who are buying back the surplus from those very consumers. If the Electricity Authority was independently empowered with these tasks and this bill seeks to achieve this then as a country we would be supporting renewable energy use.Minister Brownlee voiced his concerns that this bill will encourage consumers to go off the grid. The intention of this bill as it shows seeks to set a fair and reasonable buy-back price. Mr Brownlee also described the need for balance but the retailers are drifting that balance in their favour as the big players look to protect the infrastructure.To ask the Electricity Authority to act as an arbitrator is reasonable. Examples of this exist overseas—models that actually work. New Zealand First supports this bill being referred to the select committee so that New Zealanders can come along and let their voices be heard and that is what a good democratic process needs. New Zealand First supports this bill.