The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
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.
"We've lost the cops!" In our next instalment of Political Power, we managed to get David Seymour, deputy prime minister and leader of the Act Party, behind the wheel of a Zeekr 7x when he was in Queenstown recently. As is often the case when people take a new EV for a spin, there was much chortling as he gave it heaps up the Remarkables ski field road - and, if we take him at his word, we might even see him give Mike Casey's tractor heaps up Parliament steps in the future.
Read moreDownloadEVs are having a moment right now, so how can we get more people driving electric; Tom Selleck sums up how EV owners are feeling right now and staggering analysis shows the sun's prices have been unaffected by decades of geopolitical conflict; Scion goes solar to get off gas, while dairy farmers and homes go with solar and batteries to keep going; Saul Griffith takes his solar-powered scooter to Canberra and starts a fight with regulators; the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge in Hamilton gets some panels donated and will save $17,000 a year; and killing the Friday vibe with new studies on how fossil fuel companies made massive profits after the last energy crisis in 2022 and carbon emissions making our blood boil - perhaps quite literally.
Read moreDownloadAn electrification advocate says the rising price and falling supply of gas may not be a bad thing in the long-term. PwC research —commissioned by Gas Industry Co— has found New Zealand's gas market will need to shrink sharply as domestic supply declines. It warns this could mean business closures, job losses, and higher energy costs.