Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:645;Page:14168] 
6.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
 to the  
Minister of Energy 
: Can he guarantee there will be no power cuts this coming winter? 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Energy) 
: 
 No Minister can give an absolute guarantee but I can assure the member that even at this stage the Electricity Commission Transpower and other industry participants are working together to ensure a secure supply of electricity is maintained. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Has the Minister heard that current lake inflows are lower than they were in 1992 that the Cook Strait cable is now down to one operational pole that the Huntly power station cannot operate at full capacity because of cooling issues and that Contact Energy’s New Plymouth plant is shut and is not likely to open again this winter; are these the reasons why Transpower has called the crisis meeting today; and when will he tell the public of New Zealand that we are now gripped by an electricity crisis? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: It is true that there is an unusual combination of events for this time of year but we do not have a crisis. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Can the Minister explain to the House whether the unexpected withdrawal of Pole 1 of the Cook Strait cable and the retirement of the New Plymouth power station are substantially reducing North Island power capacity and has the system been robust enough to meet these and other challenges to date? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Yes the effects have been substantial. The combined loss of Pole 1 and the retirement of the New Plymouth station have caused a drop in overall capacity in the North Island of 870 megawatts. In addition we have had reduced generation at the Huntly plant due to the unusually warm Waikato river and partly because of the drought up there; and of course the Stratford plant has been out of action for maintenance. The drought conditions in the South Island have also meant that inflows are below average. But despite all of those factors—and this is an unusual combination of events—the system has been resilient enough to cope. 
Peter Brown 
: Will the Minister confirm that the combination of events referred to will likely significantly increase the price of electricity; and if that is so how does he propose to address the concerns of elderly folk on fixed incomes who are very nervous about the situation? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: I would not expect this combination of events to have a material effect on residential tariffs. They are not exposed to spot-market prices. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Minister confirm that the comments made by the electricity commissioner—a former deputy leader of the Labour Party David Caygill—after some of the grid emergencies last month: “… I’m not sure that what sounds like a temporary set of factors coming together represents a problem we should be concerned about.” are part of the Labour Party’s spin to convince New Zealanders there is no problem when clearly there is? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: I read the electricity commissioner’s comments. I agreed with them. I think at the time there was some exaggerated rhetoric around. It is true we have challenges this year that we did not have last year. One of the important foci at the moment is actually seeing whether we can return part of Pole 1 into service before winter. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How does the plan to import 100 container-sized diesel generators to avert the crisis fit into Labour’s plans on climate change and will he now admit that the Government’s very poor attitude to hydro generation is the real reason why New Zealand is facing an electricity crisis this winter? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: We do not have a poor attitude to any form of renewable— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Tell us about Dobson. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Dobson is actually being replaced by the Arnold River scheme on the West Coast with lower environmental impact and substantial output. It is a better scheme. In terms of Mr Brownlee’s question about mobile generators it is unlikely that that will come to pass but it is one of the possible contingencies being looked at and if it were necessary we would do it. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Is he aware that New Zealand’s possible dependence then on a set of diesel generators would make us like the Pacific Islands Nauru Niue and the Tokelaus; is this proposal an example of what sacked electricity commissioner Roy Hemmingway said in a High Court affidavit recently when he mentioned that the Minister of Energy has some slightly unusual ideas and is this issue an example of his thinking that is slightly outside the square? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: The idea of mobile generators as a contingency is not one of mine. It has come from either the Electricity Commission or Transpower; I cannot recall which. As I have said before it is unlikely to be necessary but if it were necessary we would do it. If it were necessary the generators would be there as a contingency not as a first line of defence and if that contingency came to pass it would be for a period of hours over winter not days over winter. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Has he any explanation for how we are possibly facing another winter of power shortages when Helen Clark stated in 2004 that the Electricity Commission is being established to build security of supply and to ensure that there is enough standby generation for dry years and Pete Hodgson also constantly assured the House that the Electricity Commission would deliver security of supply when in fact today there is a crisis meeting because that security of supply is very much under threat? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: This Government has always put security of supply at the top of the list and will always do so. Last year an additional 586 megawatts of capacity was built. There is approximately 300 megawatts of additional capacity under construction as we speak.