Seymour David: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSeymour David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 29 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:342. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT)to the Minister of Finance: What reports has he received on the performance of the share prices of the mixed-ownership energy companies since they listed on the sharemarket?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):I have received reports confirming that the three mixed-ownership energy companies are performing better. By that I mean they are keeping power prices in check because of the competitive market they are paying higher dividends than they did in Government ownership and their share prices have increased above their levels on listing. This is good news for consumers. In many cases the average residential electricity price they pay has fallen in the past year. It is also good news for taxpayers who retain majority ownership in these companies and for New Zealand investors who bought shares. They are also paying higher dividends. For example despite selling just under half of its shareholding in Genesis the Government is forecast to receive twice the dividends from the company this year compared with the best year between 2001 and 2012 when it was the 100 percent shareholder—that is twice the dividends as a 50 percent shareholder than it received when it was the 100 percent shareholder.David Seymour: Does the Minister agree that the change in market value post-election provides a good approximation of what taxpayers could reasonably have expected to receive in the initial share offers if not for the risks posed by proposed reform of the electricity sector and is he aware that the joint market capitalisation of Mighty River Power Genesis and Meridian Energy has increased compared with the values in June last by around $1 billion?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well it is a matter of public record that the values of the companies have gone up but I think the member might be referring to the attempt by Labour and the Greens to sabotage the float. Of course the irony of that is that the people who suffered most from it are the mums and dads who were scared off who actually could have bought shares and substantially benefited from them. So we have ended up with the taxpayer having got a bit less and the investors having done a bit more. I do not think that Labour and the Greens were trying to help the investors but they did.David Seymour: Does the Minister agree that if the pre-election discount on the energy utilities was of the order of $1 billion the increased tax burden on New Zealand workers could be characterised in the following way: namely that it will require the taxpayer by 117000 New Zealand workers earning the average New Zealand income working for a full year before the Government will have recouped in tax what it lost in the discount for risk due to the Labour-Green proposed pricing policy?Mr SPEAKER: Order! In so far as there is ministerial responsibility—the Minister is certainly not responsible for the policy of another political party.Hon BILL ENGLISH: That is an interesting calculation. I have not seen that one before. There is no doubt that the Labour-Greens policy had the effect of transferring wealth from taxpayers to investors who took the risk of buying shares before the result of the 2014 election was known.Hon Clayton Cosgrove: Does this Government still believe as he has said in the past that Kiwis are still not paying too much for their power usage?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well anyone who has paid a power bill is likely to think they have paid too much. What I can tell the member is that the combination of one of the most competitive markets in the developed world along with the partial sales of the companies is leading to a situation where the energy prices—that is not including the lines charges which are the local monopolies—are falling. That started happening about when Labour said: “We’ve got a crisis in electricity prices.”