The four big players —Contact, Genesis, Meridian, and Mercury— made a combined 2.7 billion, with a 'B', billion dollars last year.
Historically high profits.
So surely that would suggest that they are rorting little old pensioners who are having to go to bed early in the depths of winter, because the aforementioned little old pensioners can't afford to heat their flats. Certainly Electric Kiwi chief Executive Luke Blincoe thinks the big four have excessive market power, but then you would if you're a little player in a big boy's game, wouldn't you? He told Heather du Plessis Allan last night that the market is broken, especially when Consumer New Zealand estimates that 40,000 households couldn't afford power, while the big four were making $7 million a day.
The Energy Retailers Association said the transition to a zero carbon economy means that power companies have to make a profit, as investing in new developments does not come cheap. They say that they're not lying on their profits like Scrooge McDuck covering themselves in money. They are plowing their earnings back into new initiatives like solar and wind farms that will ultimately lead to more affordable power prices for anybody.
So is it as simple as saying that this is an example of paying it forward?
That we haven't really seen much of this generation. That's the way it used to work in this country. One generation would pay for infrastructure, so the next generation could benefit from the improvements and then they in turn would pay for the next lot of infrastructure.
It's all come to a screaming halt this time round. You can't really have it both ways can you? You can't have cheap power prices, and investment for the future. Somebody has to pay for it and that somebody is us.
Do you see it that way? I mean you can see on the websites all of the different initiatives that they're investing in, and probably if you live near some of these developments you will see it for yourself. They're not lying when they're saying they're investing in new forms of energy.
It costs money and that's got to come from this generation because surely we've learnt one thing from this Government, you cannot keep borrowing money and printing money. Sometimes you actually have to suck it up and pay for it right here right now.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced
So surely that would suggest that they are rorting little old pensioners who are having to go to bed early in the depths of winter, because the aforementioned little old pensioners can't afford to heat their flats. Certainly Electric Kiwi chief Executive Luke Blincoe thinks the big four have excessive market power, but then you would if you're a little player in a big boy's game, wouldn't you? He told Heather du Plessis Allan last night that the market is broken, especially when Consumer New Zealand estimates that 40,000 households couldn't afford power, while the big four were making $7 million a day.
The Energy Retailers Association said the transition to a zero carbon economy means that power companies have to make a profit, as investing in new developments does not come cheap. They say that they're not lying on their profits like Scrooge McDuck covering themselves in money. They are plowing their earnings back into new initiatives like solar and wind farms that will ultimately lead to more affordable power prices for anybody.
So is it as simple as saying that this is an example of paying it forward?
That we haven't really seen much of this generation. That's the way it used to work in this country. One generation would pay for infrastructure, so the next generation could benefit from the improvements and then they in turn would pay for the next lot of infrastructure.
It's all come to a screaming halt this time round. You can't really have it both ways can you? You can't have cheap power prices, and investment for the future. Somebody has to pay for it and that somebody is us.
Do you see it that way? I mean you can see on the websites all of the different initiatives that they're investing in, and probably if you live near some of these developments you will see it for yourself. They're not lying when they're saying they're investing in new forms of energy.
It costs money and that's got to come from this generation because surely we've learnt one thing from this Government, you cannot keep borrowing money and printing money. Sometimes you actually have to suck it up and pay for it right here right now.
Kerre McIvor, is a journalist, radio presenter, author and columnist. Currently hosts the Kerre Woodham mornings show on Newstalk ZB - where this article was sourced
6 comments:
So there hasn't been larger dividends paid to the shareholders, including the government. All the extra billions have been spent in ways that will benefit Kiwis rather than the businesses themselves.
Sounds like a Tui ad to me.
i think all these discussions should address these basic questions:
a. is it a free market? if yes, let's keep it that way!
b. if it is not a free market, what can be done to make it free?
c. is the govt restricting the market from becoming free? if yes, get them out of the way.
if one company wants to invest in the future & charge higher prices, while another wants to meet customer demand today, both should be allowed to exist - customers will make a choice. very similar to how some people buy the essentials brand while others go for black & decker.
"They are plowing their earnings back into new initiatives like solar and wind farms that will ultimately lead to more affordable power prices for everybody"
If you believe that you'll believe anything.
And just to prove it, as usual little old NZ is at the back of the pack with wind and solar. Which is actually a really good thing because what we know with certainty is that wind and solar generation is very, very expensive and all the hollow promises that have been made about costs coming down with economies of scale are garbage.
In fact, the more of this generation which is built around the world the greater the demand for all the heavy metals and rare-earth elements (REE) needed to make them and their batteries. This will drive prices ever higher because there are finite known reserves of these metals. And China has cornered the REE market!
Unfortunately for us, despite being well behind in the renewables race, our current generation of scientifically and economically illiterate public "servants" will make the same terrible decisions as everyone else because all they know is groupthink and consensus.
Things are so bad in Germany that they are now quietly dismantling their wind farms to rebuild coal-fired plants, going back to the one energy source they have in abundance in Europe.
What garbage from Kerre. The truth is that you have to build the equivalent reliable energy production to supplement the unreliable solar and wind electricity generation
If they built reliable energy plant then the cost of building double infrastructure would NOT mean high power costs to New Zealand .
Kerre I get pissed off with the way you go on talking and talking but never give any facts, numbers or examples. Just you rabbiting on and on. And I don't mean just today.
You dismiss an insider's comments (Electric Kiwi) as "a little player in a Big Boy's game." Surely Luke Blincoe knows more about the electricity market than you do?
Perhaps there is too much influence still percolating from the PIJF to get real investigative journalism. Yeah, pissed off.
MC
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