Hughes Gareth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16071. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]11.GARETH HUGHES (Green) to theMinister of Energy and Resources: Does he think New Zealanders are paying too much for their power?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources): Obviously consumers will always want to pay less for electricity but I think that prices reflect the environment we find ourselves in with increased—significantly increased—investment in transmission and infrastructure. If consumers are worried about price they should look back to the last Labour-Greens Government which saw steep power price increases that this Government has halved since taking office.Gareth Hughes: Does he support the idea of Kiwis generating their own power rather than having to pay rising electricity prices and paying for the electricity companies’ profits when bills have gone up 22 percent under his Government?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well of course solar has got its place but the reality is that the Green Party’s policy of wishful thinking just does not stack up. This is a Government that has invested significantly and seen significant investment in transmission and lines and has of course halved the steep increases we saw under the last Government.Gareth Hughes: Is he telling families like theHugheses—no relation—in Nelson who recently received a monthly power bill of $1.80 after installing solar on their roof that they have made a bad decision?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: What I say to theHugheses—I am glad they are no relation—is that if they shop around they will see increasingly sharp competition which is not reflected in the quarterly survey prices. Meridian is offering $100 credit and 10 percent to 12 percent prompt payment discounts. Contact is offering similar 10 percent to 15 percent prompt payment discounts. But I can only agree with MrBinns of Meridian when answering questions from Mr Hughes that he simply cannot follow the economics of solar and it just does not stack up.Gareth Hughes: Is this Minister who is off tonight on his oil-drilling world tour going to spend election year standing up for big oil and power companies’ profits at the expense of cleaner cheaper smarter electricity for New Zealanders and thousands of green jobs?Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sure that that outburst was entertaining for the member but where was the question? There were assertions all the way through that question that are totally unreasonable. It might be member’s day and people will waste time. Once we start these things then we seem to have trouble getting off the treadmill. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! No I do not need the assistance of the member. The question was way off the mark and made allegations that are not helpful to the order of the House. I was not and I am not going to rule the question out of order but if the Minister gives a relatively political reply I will not be surprised.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well I am very disappointed in those snide remarks from the member given that a core value of the Green Party is to engage respectfully without personal attacks. But let me come back to those important issues that the member talks about. We have halved the steep increases in the power prices that we saw under Labour and the Greens. We have seen significant—in the billions of dollars—investment in transmission in lines and we are seeing increasingly sharp deals from the power companies which actually are not passing on their increasing costs in their prices.