RNZ<\/a> on Monday if he wanted the big companies to be completely separate legal companies with new structures, Peters said yes.<\/p>\nThe current system was set up 28 years ago and at the time, there was a proviso that prices would be regulated if future rising prices failed to plateau, Peters said.<\/p>\n
These regulations weren\u2019t being used and \u201cNew Zealanders are being screwed\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gone from being a very competitive pricing regime for New Zealand businesses and houses \u2026 to now paying some of the highest prices in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
There would be a costed policy, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealanders understand that this is a critical industry and they\u2019ve lost control of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if shareholders would be compensated, Peters said: \u201cWe\u2019re not into wholesale nationalisation and compensating shareholders will depend on what the values are with the change of policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peters also spoke about solar power.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been encouraging people to take up solar power. So if they want to and have got spare power and want to put it back in the system, are they getting one for one? Are they getting two for one? Three for one? Four for one? Five for one? No, they\u2019re just being ripped off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked how this would be done due to having several lines companies, Peters said we should look at the system when there was \u201cone outfit doing it all\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not operating as we need it to operate\u2019<\/p>\n
When asked if he would support a situation where NZ First or the Greens came to Labour with a proposal to change the electricity market, Hipkins told reporters Labour has dealt with this in government before with Telecom and Chorus – where the network and retail was operated by the same company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did take action to create a more competitive market by separating those two things,\u201d Hipkins said.<\/p>\n
Supporting the Green Party or NZ First in breaking up the gentailers wasn\u2019t off the table for Hipkins.<\/p>\n
When asked if that meant he was leaving the door open, he said: \u201cI\u2019m absolutely leaving the door open to fundamental changes to our electricity market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear the electricity market is not operating as we need it to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour would release a comprehensive policy around the electricity market soon, Hipkins said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We can put it into action right now\u2019<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Green MP Scott Willis said New Zealand didn\u2019t have to wait for an election to break up the big power gentailer companies.<\/p>\n
The description of Willis\u2019 Member\u2019s Bill said it would \u201cenable innovation and competition in both retail and generation markets and help drive down electricity prices for consumers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will achieve this by increasing access to electricity markets; fostering innovation and efficiency; preventing gentailers from cross-subsidising the supply of electricity to their retail arms at prices that cannot be replicated by independent retailers; clarifying the responsibilities of the Electricity Authority \u2026 [and] empowering the Minister to amend the Code if required to enact this amendment within a three-year timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willis\u2019 Member\u2019s Bill description said it would enforce separation of generation and retail functions; \u201cto provide transparency, innovation, and competition for the benefit of consumers. There can still be common ownership but businesses must operate independently\u201d.<\/p>\n
Willis said his Bill was modelled off what happened with the telecoms industry.<\/p>\n
Willis said his Member\u2019s Bill was sitting there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a promise from a leader but it\u2019s a Bill. It\u2019s ready to go and if New Zealand First wants to do it, then all they need to do is support my Bill and we can put it into action right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be a place where we have abundant renewables and we have energy independence. It\u2019s all possible but not with this Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uncertainty<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ<\/a> on Monday it was not something that the National Party would be campaigning on.<\/p>\n\u201cOur view is that splitting up the gentailers would drive a lot of uncertainty in the energy sector when we need a lot of certainty right now,\u201d Luxon said.<\/p>\n
He said the big focus was on more renewable energy and there was a lot of investment underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While it\u2019s not something the National Party will campaign on, the electricity market is set to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-346432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}