Cheap power no lure

Press, 14 March 1977, Page 7

Cheap power no lure

The Minister of Electricity (Mr Holland) has told the Christchurch City Council that its efforts to retain industry would not best be achieved by the lure of cheaper electricity. Electricity costs were not much of a lure because power was “a relatively minor factor in total manufacturing costs." Mr Holland said. But the Mayor of Chnstrhurch (Mr H. G. Hay) said the push for better South Is-

land energy policies had at • least brought the problem to 1 the Government’s attention. Mr Holland said a better e approach would be to take f full advantage of regional development incentives. t '‘Organisations considering e the establishment or ex- <■ pansion of an industrial - plant are much more likely i to be influenced by factors such as access to raw mat- - erials, proximity to markets, j and availability of labour,” i-.he said.

The lack of natural gas| availability to the South Is-1 land might not be per-i manent. “For industrial purposes, and this is the point at issue, electricity and natural gas are not interchangeable,”, Mr Holland said. “As a large-scale source of heat in industry, the alternatives to natural gas are oil and coal,, both of which are just asj readily available in the South Island as in the; North.”