Today, David Farrar over at Kiwibog attempts to promote some propaganda by the Minister of State Owned Enterprises Tony Ryall, who paints a rosy picture that competition in the electricity market is delivering cheap power. This is of course complete rubbish!
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
Power prices have continued to increase at around 8% per annum and thousands of New Zealander's cannot afford to heat their homes properly.
There is likely to have been no reduction in the excess winter mortality rate since National became government, because the average low and medium income has not matched inflation.
It should also be noted that some National MPs have extensive shareholdings in privately owned power companies, who have recently adjusted their pricing down again for the latest round of government funded promotion.
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
The creation of the power switch.org.nz website has enabled customers to see how much money they can save if they change power companies.
But energy campaigner Molly Melhuish said more people searching for better deals was not evidence that competition was delivering fair pricing. Rather, it was a sign of desperation as people struggled to ward off fuel poverty, with even the best rates too high for many.
"We must re-regulate so electricity is again an essential service.
"Until that's done, the current Rogernomics pricing is being increasingly savage."
[...]
The 2008 Otago University study found that each year, about 1600 more people died during the winter months than in other seasons.
Researcher Dr Michael Baker said "excess winter mortality" was a huge and so far intractable problem for New Zealand.
"It's the scale of it," Dr Baker said.
"It's like four road tolls added together every winter."
The study used data from several years and found no decline in the rate for the past 15 to 20 years.
Power prices have continued to increase at around 8% per annum and thousands of New Zealander's cannot afford to heat their homes properly.
There is likely to have been no reduction in the excess winter mortality rate since National became government, because the average low and medium income has not matched inflation.
It should also be noted that some National MPs have extensive shareholdings in privately owned power companies, who have recently adjusted their pricing down again for the latest round of government funded promotion.
