electricity Archive

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  Jeanette questions the wisdom of the Genesis board

  
  
  
  Jeanette asked the Minister for State Owned Enterprises in the House yesterday whether he has confidence in the board of Genesis Energy. Genesis is proceeding with a consent application for a gas fired power station for which it admits it has no gas and is not economically viable “in a real-world, commercial sense”. The Rodney [...] read more
  March 25, 2009 4:08 pm - 19 Comments
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  ECNZ: gold plated or robust?

  
  
  
  One of the biggest arguments in favour of our failed electricity market reforms was the assertion that it was run by bureaucrats and engineers, and was thus gold plated. Flowing from that was the assertion that thus, we were paying far too much for our energy and that breaking it all up and letting business [...] read more
  February 5, 2009 10:18 am - 52 Comments
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  Shower despots

  
  
  
  The civil rights leaders of the right wing blogosphere are again up in arms at the egregious and dictatorial invasion by the Greens of hard working New Zealanders’ bathrooms.  And rightfully so. The Greens secret policy on showers will require armed, masked police officers to enter each person’s bathroom, one by one, and forcibly remove their [...] read more
  October 9, 2008 2:40 pm - 66 Comments
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  National’s energy policy throws consumers to the wolves

  
  
  
  The more I read it, the angrier it makes me. The National Party Energy Policy makes it crystal clear that consumers will be left entirely to the whims of the pseudo-market. With the likely destruction of the Electricity Commission and the gutting of the RMA, anyone will be able to build pretty much anything they want, [...] read more
  August 14, 2008 5:03 pm - 45 Comments
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  A dangerous untruth

  
  
  
  A company called E.ON is using some familiar scare tactics in order to win approval for a new coal fired electricity plant in the UK. The Guardian reports that E.ON says the lights will go out without their station and that they can ‘clean up’ the coal by buying offsets. E.ON’s claims for coal are [...] read more
  August 2, 2008 4:02 pm - 10 Comments
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  Under National, the Lights Would Already Be Out

  
  
  
  It’s a sorry statement, but true. The National Party’s schizophrenic behaviour concerning the power market is a sad indictment of their opportunism. First was their opposition to the Electricity Commission, which was put together as a plaster to fix the failures of the pseudo-market created by the National government in 1992. The Max Bradford “reforms” [...] read more
  June 16, 2008 11:14 am - 77 Comments
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  If only other threatened species got this coverage

  
  
  
  The Dom Post this morning: The beer fridge is under threat from energy experts extolling ways people can conserve dwindling power reserves to avoid blackouts. The poor old beer fridge. I’m all in favour of power saving, power crisis or not.  It’s one of those many sensible pragmatic solutions to climate change that doesn’t hurt anyone. Luckily [...] read more
  June 10, 2008 11:12 am - 4 Comments
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  Are the Wheels Falling Off the ETS?

  
  
  
  What started off as merely a flawed and highly complex system is getting progressively worse. After weeks of intensive hearings the implications are crystallising and the flaws becoming more apparent. At the same time the Government is engaged in a process of pandering to vested interests and watering down the scheme, notifying the select committee [...] read more
  May 14, 2008 1:19 pm - 48 Comments
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  Winter power – let the market manage it

  
  
  
  Transpower has just released a public statement of concern over the lake levels and their ability to cope over winter. As I have stated in many a prior post, the end of April is when you look at these things, (not February, Gerry), as well as look at prudent ways to manage any risk. It [...] read more
  May 1, 2008 11:05 am - 15 Comments
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  To save, or not to save, that is the question

  
  
  
  To save, or not to save, that is the question; Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Dampness And to take arms against the low lake levels, And by going without, end them. A war of words has erupted between the Major Energy Users Group, or MEUG, and the Federation of Family Budgeting [...] read more
  April 26, 2008 2:46 pm - 52 Comments