The Government is defending its decision to tread lightly with its energy sector reform.
Amid a raft of recommendations from consultants Frontier Economics, the Government rejected 8 of 10 of the ideas put forward.
The major recommendation was that the Crown sell down its shares in Meridian, Mercury and Genesis, and create a Govt entity that would buy fuels to back-up the market, and deal with the dry-year risk.
Instead, the Government's chosen to continue to trust the big gentailers to deliver that back-up - mainly coal and gas, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis writing to the boards of its three majority-owned gentailers stating the Crown was ready to put taxpayer money into coal and gas back-up generation.
The government's also pledged to back an LNG import facility, starting a procurement process immediately.
Major users, retailers and business groups see the moves having little impact on prices. Energy Minister Simon Watts joins Kathryn to discuss the Government's decisions.
