Watch: Skyrocketing electricity prices are coming for you
Tuesday, 6 August 2024
Factories are having to stop production due to soaring electricity costs.
Those costs, up to six times what Australia pays, will soon be passed onto households.
The Government is making enquiries about what’s driving up the cost.
Watch the full story from Stuff’s Three News.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking urgent advice on sky rocketing electricity prices.
The power pinch is pummelling business, but that pain could soon be transmitting to your home.
On Monday, Stuff reported on the shut-down of two Ruapehu mills. The workers of Winstone’s pulp and timber mills, which sit on State Highway 49 between Ohakune and Tangiwai, were told to put down their tools. That’s because the soaring price of electricity meant it was too expensive to keep the mills running, according to its owner.
Winstone chief executive Mike Ryan said their electricity costs were up 600 per cent since September 2021.
Those wholesale electricity prices, which Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says are currently the highest in the developed world, will soon be hitting households’ budgets.
“The wholesale electricity market, not a technical term, but it’s cooked,” says Electric Kiwi chief executive Luke Blincoe.
Electric Kiwi has had to start turning electricity customers away, because the wholesale prices have gone so high.
Electric Kiwi has lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission.
The rapid spike in electricity prices has the Government spooked.
On Monday, Jones passed on a message through Stuff for the big “gentailers” - those companies that make the power and then sell it to houses, businesses, and other retailers.
“If you can’t solve these problems, perhaps the Government needs to solve it for you,” he said.
On Tuesday, Stuff asked if that meant the Government was looking to launch a formal inquiry into the electricity sector.
“Look, I’m taking some ideas to the Finance Minister. We’re both very concerned,” he said.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she sought advice about what was going on with electricity prices.
Willis said she was “making enquires”.
Major Electricity Users Group chairperson John Harbord said households would soon see their bills increase, as the wholesale prices were passed onto everyday consumers.
He and Blincoe said households should expect their power bills to rise every year until a solution is found.
Compared to other countries, such as Australia, he said New Zealand was often paying six times the cost for wholesale electricity.
Watch the full story, from Stuff’s Three News, at the top of the article.