Power Crisis Looming

It is arrant nonsense for Energy Minister Pete Hodgson to feign surprise over the looming power pricing crisis due to transmission grid constraints, ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader and Energy Spokesman Ken Shirley said today.

“Advisors and energy experts have been warning of these perils for several years, and the under-investment in the national grid is a scandal,” Mr Shirley said.

“The astronomical price spikes, which have had a crippling effect on major industries in recent years, are a direct result of grid constraints exacerbated by a lack of generation capacity in dry years.

“We now have an appallingly inappropriate structure in the energy sector, with State-owned monopolies dominating generation, reticulation and supply.

“The benefits that initially flowed from energy sector restructuring are being whittled away as we progressively revert to a State-dominated sector with ever-increasing bureaucracy and regulation.

“The answers for the New Zealand energy sector are more market and less Government, so that smart investment and innovation can be applied to best meet the demand,” Mr Shirley said.

ENDS