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While the potential implications of the Bill are wide-ranging, our submission has focused on the potential implications for the electrification of Aotearoa NZ if the Bill is enacted as proposed. This is pertinent to Rewiring’s work, because one of our core aims is to help reduce energy bills for customers - NZ’s households, farms, and businesses. Significant changes are needed to fix the status quo, and we are concerned that the Bill may inadvertently bake in the existing rules governing the sector.
We thought it would be helpful for us to focus on practical examples of how some provisions may play out in Aotearoa NZ’s electricity sector. The matters raised in our submission primarily relate to:
1. The provision for companies or individuals to require ‘fair compensation’ for impairment of property, which may result in unintended financial windfalls for some, and future governments being less likely to develop new policies of public benefit due to concerns about the financial risks of litigation.
2. While the Bill seeks to ensure fairness in regulatory decisions, there is a risk it may place greater emphasis on commercial impacts than on the benefits that reforms can deliver to consumers, such as lower energy costs, improved services, and increased choice.
These elements of the Bill may inadvertently impede the transition to a more localised energy system, which will result in higher costs for NZ households, businesses, and farms.
The expensive fuel prices triggered by the choking of the Hormuz Strait were not stopping an undercurrent of change, Rewiring Aotearoa chief executive Mike Casey said. "We're talking about kitchen table or dinner table decisions rather than board- room table decisions." Casey, who runs a fully electric cherry farm in Central Otago, said New Zealand could benefit from introducing a “salary sacrifice" scheme similar to one available in Australia for people wanting to buy new electric cars. “We can get brand new basic electric cars onto the road ... for under $200 a week, at least for people in New Zealand, for our essential workers, for our teachers, for our nurses, and that includes registration, insurance, maintenance, energy and the car itself."
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