
Newstalk ZB's Ryan Bridge talks to Mike Casey about the launch of the Queenstown Electrification Accelerator (and announces his dream of getting solar panels on Mike Hosking's roof). As he said: "We think Queenstown is possibly the best opportunity we have to start trying out things and doing the real world action we need to quickly electrify a particular place. The business community is really aligned under the carbon zero 2030 targets set by council, the council is really aligned, and there are a lot of very active community members in this space who are super excited. Queenstown pays some of the highest energy prices in New Zealand, so it's a really good place to start and there are also problems with resilience from the Alpine Fault so it's a good idea to have Queenstown generating and storing energy itself and having machines that can use that energy." Listen from 11.20.
"The sentiment around making the electricity market fairer and cheaper for customers is great, but there's still something missing." That's Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey's summary of Act's energy policy announcement today.
Read moreDownloadACT will open electricity networks to competition, give New Zealanders more freedom to generate and sell power, and make monopoly lines companies prove consumers are getting value before loading more costs onto their power bills, says ACT spokesperson for Energy and Resources Simon Court.
Read moreDownloadACT is pledging to keep the gentailers whole and use market forces to curb the costs of lines management and increase solar repayment rates. Energy spokesperson Simon Court announced the party's electricity policy at Parliament on Friday afternoon.
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