Private-sector energy inquiry proposed

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 4

Private-sector energy inquiry proposed

PA Wellington The Manufacturers’ Federation yesterday called for a private-sector commission of inquiry into all aspects of energy supply and pricing. The federation’s president, Mr Earl Richardson, said conflicting views on energy structures and electricity pricing between interest groups, and even within the Government, had reached a stage where a wide-ranging reappraisal was necessary. He supported many of the comments of the watchdog energy advisory committee in a report released on Wednesday, but he said its recofamended task force on

energy pricing did not go far enough. An inquiry into the management and structures of public utilities headed by private and consumer interests would be new to New Zealand, he said, but had been successful in the United States. “There comes a time when piecemeal changes on top of each other over a long period create a situation where the principles that should be applied in the national interest become unclear,” he said. A wide-ranging inquiry headed by private user interests would provide the Government with a -&tally

independent assessment of the direction in which energy supply and pricing should move. It could examine gas pricing from wellhead to consumer, including the latest reported 20 per cent increase in bulk gas price, Mr Richardson said. This showed signs of becoming a “horrendous" 30 per cent increase to the user. The commission could also look at the multiplicity of electrical supply authorities and their wide range of tariffs, and the question of turning the monopoly Electricity Division into a corC oration, and its basis for ulk power pricing.