Call for industry to pav more for power

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 23

Call for industry to pav more for power

PA Auckland Industry should be paying 53 per cent more for electricity — snd householders 18 per cent less — says the Electrical Supply Authorities Association. The association has produced figures to show that the Government is failing to come up to its own standards, which say electricity should be priced according to the cost of supply to each consumer group. , ■'The bulk supply tariff is still based on an average

historical cost, irrespective of the consumer group imposing the cost, the association’s general manager, Mr Terry Hore, said. The association says more than half the increased highcost generating capacity required in the last decade has been to supply industry. Much of the extra generation is fired by expensive fuels — oils, gas and coal — and interest rates on loans for that power have also risen. “However, the average

cost method used means the domestic, commercial and farming consumers are subsidising industry and not the other way round, as is so frequently stated,” Mr Hore said. Latest figures produced by N.Z. Electricity show that the Ministry of Energy division made $lO9B million from bulk supply in the 1983-84 year. Domestic users paid $422 million, commercial and farm users $343 million, and industry $333 million.