$30 off power bills?

Press, 23 April 1980, Page 11

$30 off power bills?

At least $3O could be cut off every electricity bill in New Zealand, according to Dr N. J. Peet, a Senior lecturer in chemical engineering at Canterbury University. Dr Peet, was speaking at a community discussion organised by local branches of the Labour Party at Mount Pleasant.

“For the $lOO that the average consumer pays, only 25 per cent goes to the M.E.D. for its own costs. At least 75 per cent goes direct to the Ministry of Energy and almost 33 per cent of that bill goes towards loan charges and direct contributions to new power ; stations,” Dr Peet said.

His oersonal objection to the Government’s electricity policy was that there was “no way” the average New Zealander could make use of all the power. It was being designated for electricityintensive industries to take New Zealand out of the doldrums, but there was room for debate on the figures on which this policy wa>s based. Early electricity policy erred in believing that the rate of increase over the previous 20 or 30 years would continue. Now there was a substantial excess and the Government was planning to sell it to the highest bidders — the e n e r g y-intensive industries, such as aluminium smelters, with the aim of making the surplus disappear quickly. The problem with such industries, Dr Peet said, was that they were very expensive, could not afford to pay much for their power (being highly competitive) and did not employ many people.

Dr Peet discussed New Zealand’s energy future, emphasising .that liquid fuel policies, too, were based on the assumption that demand would continue to increase. “It will take up to seven or eight years before all the projected methanol plants and refinery extensions are working,” he said. “By then, the forecast may be wrong.” One area where more effort could be made was in the use of alcohol fuels for internal combustion engines. The Mobil process was geared to making synthetic petrol out of methanol, which was in turn produced out of natural gas.

*, Dr Peet suggested that the Mobil plant should be a stop-gap measure only, to be eased out within 10 years. “All cars imported into the country in 10 years time should be alcoholpowered,” he said. By • using cars powered by alcohol-based fuel, 'drivers would get 50 per cent better use out of the s-Maui field, in terms of ■jkilometres on the road. I “We need the Mobil plant e in the meantime,” he said. “But it should be stopped , within 15 years.” A; The energy crisis was •! largely a transport fuels 1 crisis. More than 80 per cent of liquid fuels were used in transport, Dr Peet said. This was why the

crux of future Government policy lay in that area. Methanol was to be produced by Mobil (which was to be paid a fee for doing the job) and by Petrocorp, in a separate plant In reply to a question from the floor, Dr Peet said that the Maui fields could run out in 20 to 30 years time. After that, methanol could be produced from New Zealand’s ample coal reserves, another non-renewable source. In the’ meantime, the projected plants would produce at a greater rate than the local demand. “The money earned will give us income to buy more oil," Dr Peet said.