Kuriger Barbara; Woods MeganBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Mr Speaker thank you. Firstly I want to say that the National Party's thoughts are with all of those people up and down the country who last night expected to be home and be able to turn the heater on and instead had to face a dark cold winter's night—particularly to our elderly and those medically dependent who had to rush to hospital in those circumstances. My first question to the Minister is when was she first informed of the risk of a power outage and what measures did she take to inform vulnerable members of the public? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): I was first informed that there was an issue around 8.30 p.m. last night. One of the first actions I took was to call Alison Andrew the chief executive of Transpower to get a situation report to find out what had been happening and what steps were in place. BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Has the Minister received any briefings from officials over the last six months suggesting that power outages were possible and if so what did she do in response to any advice she received? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): In the last six months I've received a range of advice. As the member will be well aware earlier in the year there was a concern that there could be issues due to the dry hydrological year—that the lake levels were wrong. But as the member will also be aware that issue has resolved and the South Island hydro system is now at around 103 percent of historical capacity for this time of the year. In answer to the question of had I received advice that the situation that occurred last evening could occur the answer is no. BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): I am aware Minister of the fact that the hydro lakes have filled. My next question to you: is there a significant risk of further outages tonight and if so what steps is she taking to mitigate the risk? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): As I'm sure members of this House will expect I've been talking with officials and seeking assurances from across the sector around what is in store for New Zealanders tonight and I would like to reassure New Zealanders that I have received those assurances from Transpower. I have had an assurance. The latest one is that there's going to be 540 megawatts of spare capacity in the system tonight so that we're not looking at a repeat tonight. But given how quickly the situation changed yesterday this is the situation that I will continue to keep seeking assurances on. BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): So what would have happened if last night was windless which it wasn't and tonight it's more likely it will be windless—what factors has the Minister taken into account around that? Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): One of the issues actually was that the wind did die down last night so Genesis in the decision not to fire up the third Rankine at Huntly was based on what it considered to be continued wind that was going to carry through into the evening. That did die down. There was an issue also with one of Genesis's hydro lakes in the North Island system last night as well. In terms of the fact that tonight will also be windless and that is the situation that we are facing I am assured by Transpower that of that 540 megawatts of spare capacity that we have in the system tonight only around half of that roughly is due to wind generation.