Shearer David: Standing Orders — SessionalText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Standing Orders — Sessional[Sitting date: 22 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19272. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert):The reason we are here today with this motion on Genesis Energy is that the Government forgot—forgot—to put in the legislation a little part that talks about financial review scrutiny transparency. That is just the normal sort of thing you would expect a Government to do. It forgot. It forgot to do that so we are here wasting Parliament’s time to make sure that that scrutiny is part of this legislation. It is not a procedural tidy-up Mr English; it is a tidy-up of a complete cock-up which shows exactly what this Government’s priority really is and that is to not to pay too much attention to transparency.This motion comes at an interesting time. Today is one of the coldest days in our winter and people as they are maybe watching this are turning on their heaters to keep warm burning up energy and electricity in order to stay warm. They know that their power bills despite all of the saving and the conservation that they are doing in perhaps not even turning on the heater when they should are going up. Our power prices went up by 4.2 percent in one quarter according to the Consumers Price Index released two days ago—4.2 percent in just one quarter. That is not an annual rate; it is a quarterly rate. That was the highest increase of power prices since 2000 with the exception of one quarter in 2012—also under this National Government. The National Government talks about all the work it is doing to bring power prices down but the consumers at home who are sitting there in front of their heaters today worrying about their power prices have just had to endure a 4.2 percent increase—the largest increase in 14 years. You have got to ask yourself whether Kiwis are really getting a fair deal. Are they getting a fair deal? I do not think so.Ninety-three percent of our power market is dominated by five big companies and Genesis Energy is the biggest. The organisation that we are talking about today is the biggest. This is a story of industries that have now been partly sold off to private investors. One percent of New Zealanders now own those shares in half of those companies. They are doing very well. They are doing very well out of ordinary Kiwis who are paying their power bills because it is the residential payer who is paying the most. This is an industry with oversight by the Electricity Authority which believes that what is good for these companies must also be good for consumers. Well it just does not work like that.In fact the Electricity Authority not so long ago said that demand when coupled with a drop in rates must lead to lower power prices in a competitive market. But they never did become lower. Power prices have continued to go up even though we have a decrease in the amount of power that is being consumed. In a competitive market power prices should have gone down like they have in most other OECD countries. Instead we have had a 4.2 percent increase in just one quarter. Genesis Energy has been at the forefront of maximising its profits. It had a 35 percent increase in profits. It went from a $243 million profit in 2010 to a $335 million profit in 2013—a 35 percent increase in profit. We have got power prices going up and we have profits of energy companies including Genesis Energy going up at the same time. You get the picture. No wonder they are returning more revenue to the Government because they are squeezing more money out of ordinary New Zealanders who are struggling to pay their power bills. That is what is happening—that is what is happening under this Government.Let us look at what is happening with prepay because I believe that prepay is a bit of an indicator of the way that companies behave towards consumers. Those people who are on prepay schemes pay in advance of their power bills. So unlike most people in New Zealand who get their power bills and pay them these people effectively put money in the meter to keep it going. Well I can tell you that if you are on a prepay scheme in Gisborne with Genesis Energy—the only scheme that you can go on to with prepay—you will be paying 32 percent more than somebody who is on a normal rate. And if you are here in Wellington—I am sure that Mr English is not on this scheme but if he were he would be paying 31.5 percent more under a prepay scheme than for a normal bill. This is money in advance. People are putting money down in advance. There is no risk to the companies. They prey on mainly poorer less well-off people who are paying more than a third of their bills in advance. This company is simply preying on those people.Let us contrast those people with the chief executive officer of Genesis Energy and the salary he is getting. Well the chief executive officer of Genesis Energy just got a 12 percent increase in his salary. That is great. I would like to see more people in New Zealand get 12 percent increases but they do not and they will not. Forty percent of New Zealanders did not get a 1 percent increase in their salaries over the last year. His salary went from $1.2 million a year to $1.35 million a year. That must really help with those electricity bills in his case. To say that somehow this is a good thing from Bill English does not speak to the facts.There was a 2 percent decrease in demand in electricity and we had a 4.2 percent increase in electricity prices. In normal competitive markets as is happening right around the world prices have stabilised or are going down. In New Zealand that is exactly the opposite of what is happening and that shows we have got a broken market. We have got a broken market in New Zealand and people in New Zealand are not getting what they deserve.As the Labour Party we are not afraid to stand up and say that this market is not working and we will change this market. We are not afraid to take on the vested interests that are taking profits out of the pockets of ordinary New Zealanders and that are supported backed up encouraged and cajoled by that Government. No we will stand up for the New Zealanders who are paying too much for their electricity for the people who cannot afford to put on their heaters when they should put on their heaters and for the people who are taking their kids to the doctor with rheumatic fever and respiratory problems. We know that if you invest in insulation you will be able to save money on health costs. If you put an efficient heating source in a house you will also be able to save on health costs. Those people do not have a choice. Ten percent of New Zealanders are paying 10 percent of their household income on energy and the top handful of New Zealanders is paying like 1 percent.We will look at reforming this energy market. We will bring in NZ Power which will make sure that more money goes into the pockets of New Zealanders—hundreds of millions of dollars. People can rely on us to make sure that power prices are stabilised and at the same time ensure that there are benefits derived for the economy as well. This is a disgrace. We are here because of a mistake the Government made two days after a quarter in which power prices went up 4.2 percent. We will do something about that.