New Zealanders are increasingly concerned about power bills, a poll has shown. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A former minister says bold action is needed to reform the energy sector and help grow the economy.
Simon Bridges, who is now chief executive of the Auckland Business Chamber, has released a survey that says 49 percent of people want power gentailers broken up, and 62 percent want the government to underwrite the cost of new electricity generation.
New Zealanders are increasingly concerned about their power bills, with 55 percent saying their power bill was more of a concern than last year, according to a Curia poll** conducted on behalf of Octopus Energy and the Auckland Business Chamber.
Alongside these numbers, 49 percent said a separation of the generation and retail arms of gentailers would improve competition, and 62 percent said they support government underwriting the cost of new electricity generation if that can bring prices down.
Bridges said without major reform the current state of the economy could be as good as it gets.
He said it was a slow moving energy crisis.
"I mean we've seen not remotely enough supply for what industry, for what business, for what Kiwis and households need and that's led to you know very significant price increases over recent times."
The government was about to announce reforms and they needed to be significant, Bridges said.
Energy intensive manufacturing was the biggest contributor to the decline in the recent second quarter GDP figures, he said.
"This is a real constraint on the economy if we're not going to get reforms that lead to much more supply and much better prices."
The Chamber of Commerce released a 10 point plan which outlined what measures were needed, he said.
"We need to see action on a range of fronts, you know some of them are quite moderate measures through to those bigger issues such as the separation of gentailers."
It would be relatively easy for the government to deal with some of the issues included in the 10 point plan such as long-range planning, strategies and providing a one-stop shop rather than having three regulators, he said.
More complex areas would include underwriting the cost of new electricity generation and separation which was a very important, he said.
"If you don't do that and you've got gentailers who effectively control both the generation and the retail arms, you've just got very wrong incentives and you're never going to get New Zealand where it needs to go in terms of that energy supply and prices."
Asked why he did not implement some of the changes he now wants when he was in government, Bridges said you had to respond to the times.
"The market back then was a very different market and actually didn't have the issues it's got now, now as a result of much more population growth, more industry demand, data and AI, you're in a very different scene than we were then."
Bridges said the poll highlighted that New Zealanders want bold action on energy.
"Whether it's the rising household bills, or the ongoing stories of major employers having to shut up shop, costing thousands of jobs, Kiwi businesses and households have had enough," he said.
"They expect the government to confront the sector's underlying problems and take steps that will bring down energy costs for all New Zealanders."
Bridges has called on the government to show some leadership, and said this poll shows that now is the time for action.
"Energy Minister Simon Watts has indicated that his intention is for serious reform - this poll shows that that's exactly what Kiwis want.
"If decisive action isn't taken, what we're going to see more and more is the economy going backwards - the current state of economic activity could be as good as it gets."
The poll's result comes just days out from the government revealing its response to a review of New Zealand's electricity market.
Energy Minister Simon Watts said he would have more to say within the coming week, promising "significant but surgical" action.
"I remain acutely aware of the cost of living pressures New Zealanders are experiencing right now," Watts said.
"I can assure you that the government's response to the independent review of electricity market performance will focus on targeting the root cause of the challenges New Zealand's energy system is facing."
Power company profits were named as the single largest factor contributing to higher power prices by 29 percent of those polled, followed by not enough competition (20 percent), poor regulation (16 percent) and inflation generally (13 percent).
** The polling took place between August 31 and September 2. The sample of 1000 eligible voters saw 700 interviewed by phone and 300 by online panel. Curia is a long-running and established pollster in New Zealand. It recently resigned its membership from the Research Association New Zealand (RANZ) industry body.
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