Comments on: No relief from rising power prices

By: Spud

Spud — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:52:04 +0000

I do agree with you that clean power is better, I just can’t afford to be choosey. Good for you for choosing the cleaner power.

By: Kaukapakapa

Kaukapakapa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:47:40 +0000

I know I’m very lucky my family’s able to choose, Spud. Your post reminds me of news items about fizzy drinks being cheaper to buy than milk, and fruit/veges costing more than junk food. We all know which are better for us though. In one of my earlier posts I noted that the amount industry/business paid for electricity DECREASED in 2008. Why do residential customers get hit with massive increases and why can’t power retailers be a bit more even-handed?

By: Spud

Spud — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:01:03 +0000

Hey man appreciate your environmental thing but some of us can’t afford to eat let alone have expensive power.

By: Kaukapakapa

Kaukapakapa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:21:08 +0000

Good grief, Millsy – I’m not an idiot. It’s no different from buying free range pork/bacon at the supermarket. You’re using your buying power to signal your preferences, and hopefully the owner listens and stocks more of that product (at the expense of competing product).

I would have thought that if there was a huge customer switch to Meridian, even though their prices might be higher, it would indicate consumers chose the company because it only generates electricity from renewable sources. That is, until it gets landed with Whirinaki.

The Minister’s ETAG group suggested Whirinaki could be sold off. It will be interesting to see if the Bill allows Meridian to dispose of Whirinaki, or if the legislation forces Meridian to keep it as part of its generation portfolio.

By: millsy

millsy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:08:52 +0000

Kaukapakapa,

If you think that some how Meridian has a way of sending the power they make straight to your house, you have to be on something.

By: Nathan Mills

Nathan Mills — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:22:16 +0000

Assume you’ve finished reading the entire paper now Chris, any further thoughts on it?

By: Kaukapakapa

Kaukapakapa — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:20:33 +0000

Millsy, many consumers like myself chose to sign up with Meridian only because we thought it would send a strong signal to the Govt that we prefer renewable generation.

Can someone more knowledgeable explain why power prices for industry and commercial businesses decreased last year? Seriously. I don’t understand why residential customers copped such huge increases but businesses didn’t.

Re. my earlier post about dodgy graphs from the Minister, here’s a link to Monday’s Cabinet paper http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC____42317.aspx and on page 133 of this second document is the graph that shows the true state of affairs for electricity prices http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/StandardSummary____15169.aspx (Sorry, I don’t know how to do hyperlinks on here)

By: millsy

millsy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:55:13 +0000

The whole power market is smoke and mirrors. Dont you see it, all the ‘choice’ you have is the colour of your bill. Electricity is electricity. The fact is, that the electricity that comes into your house can come from anywhere – the electrons arent stamped with ‘Genesis’ or ‘MRP’ on them.

By: j abba

j abba — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:31:52 +0000

I hate the way the older people get dealt to every winter while people play games with their lives for petty policital purposes, and dare I swear on this blog .. BONUSES

By: StephenR

StephenR — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:57:19 +0000

jabba, there might be a bit of lag time depending on when it’s actually meant to start as well as how long iy takes to implement.