Gas survey not meant to set compensation

Press, 26 July 1980, Page 5

Gas survey not meant to set compensation

Parliamentary reporter | It was never intended that! the survey carried out by! the Ministry of Energy’s i exploration and gas devel-! opment directorate would establish the amount of the grant to the Christchurch Gas Company for payment 1 of compensation to its consumers. according to the Government. The chairman of the Gas Council and Under-Secretary for Energy (Mr Brill) said a statement issued by a Labour member of Parliament about the closing of the Christchurch Gas Company “reeked of political bias.” i The survey had merely helped set the level of the grant and, in fact, had been ! responsible for the average' compensation pavable being;' increased from $5O to S3OO, he said. “Contrary to the Labour statement, the team which I prepared the directorate re-h port did not recommend an average compensation of , $700,” Mr Brill said. “It has i never been a Government requirement that com-,1 pensation should meet the < full price of replacing a con-'i

I sumer’s old gas appliance, (with a new electric one.” j ( The amount of comi pensation paid to Christ-1 'church users was entirely a; matter for the local gas. company, which merely received assistance from the : Government. The size of the Govern- i ment grant to the Christ-1 church Gas Company had' been arrived at by' multiplying $3OO by the! number of consumers who: used a stipulated minimum! quantity of gas in the 12! months before the closing of : the gasworks, he said. in fact, the Christchurch iundertaking would be con-: siderably better off than its | Timaru and Masterton i ! counterparts, which had re-1 ceived an average of $5O: (when they closed in 19/8. “It is ludicrous to suggest: that the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch.) is being secretive I (about the survey,” Mr Bril’ ■'said. “The report has beet, available from the Ministry of Energy for several months, and I personally ■ forwarded copies to Christchurch membes of Parlia'ment in August last year.”