Electricity

Click here to return to the energy summary.                             Click here to return to the policy homepage.

Not set out on their website.

• Removing any obstacles in the electricity market rules to co-generation from woody biomass.
• Geothermal development for industrial process heat and electricity can be sustainable under some circumstances. It must be developed with care to ensure that natural thermal features are not disrupted, that fluids are reinjected to deep wells so that heat and fluid are not depleted.
• Development of a fully renewable electricity generation system, except for dry winter emergency supply, by 2030.
• Redesign the Electricity Commission as a Sustainable Energy Commission (hereafter referred to as the Commission) with regulatory responsibility for all fuels and a clear mandate for sustainability.
• Investigate the best means of introducing "progressive pricing" whereby a quantity of electricity and/or gas is available at relatively low cost, and subsequent units are more expensive.
• Refocus, to the extent possible, existing electricity SOEs on selling affordable energy services rather than increasing electricity sales, encourage development of SOE business strategies based around energy efficiency and stable demand for energy and assess whether a new energy services SOE is required. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

Not seet out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

• Make EECA the central funding agency for contestable funding programmes aimed at reducing long term energy consumption in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
• UnitedFuture will seek solutions that offer positive alternatives to otherwise punitive measures e.g. rather than just a carbon tax on coal used to generate electricity (and higher costs for consumers), sequester the carbon or encourage the generator to plant a new forest. (more here)
• Invest in small-scale localised electricity generation projects. Reducing our reliance and burden on the National transmission grid.
• Convert Transpower NZ Ltd to a public utility with the sole objective of transporting power through the National Grid at the lowest possible long-term cost to the consumer
• Make it easier and cheaper for micro-generators to connect directly to local electricity networks (including a requirement for lines companies and electricity retailers to trade with micro-generators at 'fair' market rates) (more here)