Mike's Minute: Power issues - Here we go again

From the “here we go again” file: we are being lined up once more for another winter of shonky power supply.

A deal has been done again with Tiwai to cut production. Oh, the irony in a country that is supposed to be focused on growth, growth, growth.

Mercury is the bearer of the glad tidings that the power price is heading north by an average of 10%.

Why? Because we don’t make enough power.

We are hopelessly reliant on rain and we stopped looking for oil and gas. We didn’t get enough windmills and solar panels up.

So we are short. We were also short last year, and the year before.

The spot price is about $200, not the $800 it was for a time last year. But it's well north of what it should be.

Yet again the year has started dry, but in a reassuring sign of expertise in meteorological minutiae, the power company said there's still plenty of time for it to rain.

So that’s okay then.

Cost plus accounting is not confined to councils. Power companies do it too. We are paying for the windmills whether we want them or not.

A lot of the renewable investment is not about it solving the problem, because it doesn’t automatically, at least not in a sensible, cost effective way.

What a lot of it is about is wokeness and being seen to be part of the Paris crowd. The same way the BNZ likes to haunt petrol stations, power companies like to gouge us for their green credentials.

Like banks, there is an argument we are not well served by these big gentailers who, in simple terms, are not doing their job.

What is their job? Power.

Is there enough power? No.

Was there enough last year? No.

Is it good enough in 2025 in a country economically on its knees looking for growth, growth, growth?

No.

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