S.I. bids for Manapouri sale proceeds

Press, 15 September 1989, Page 2

S.I. bids for Manapouri sale proceeds

By

WILLIAM HOBBS

South Island local authorities want any proceeds from the possible sale of the Manapouri power station put towards reducing electricity costs in the South Island.

The South Island Local Bodies’ Association, at its annual conference in Nelson yesterday, passed two remits relating to the possible sale of Manapouri. The first, proposed by the South Canterbury Electric Power Board, was that if Comalco did buy into the power station any proceeds from the sale should be put towards a reduction of South Island electricity costs.

could understand Comalco’s desire to cement its investment by buying into Manapouri.

He also said that of all the Think Big projects, Comalco was one which had been of big benefit to New Zealand.

While wanting proceeds retained in the South Island if Manapouri was sold, the conference made clear that its preference was that the hydro stations should not be sold.

Speaking to it, Mr Laurie Blakemore said some people might ask what special rights South Islanders had to support the retention of such funds in the south.

A remit from the floor was passed that ' the association deplore the sale of Manapouri to any private interests, small or large.

It could be argued 74 per cent of the population lived in the North Island and they would have contributed proportionately to the cost of South Island stations, he said. But the total cost of South Island hydro stations was just under $6OO million, while the North Island stations had cost about $1.9 billion. This meant that on a per capita basis the South Island had paid for its stations and the North Island for theirs, so it was logical that if a South Island asset was sold, South Island consumers should be the beneficiaries. Mr Blakemore said he.

A Timaru delegate, Mr Durham Dowell, said local bodies were not going to sit round and allow a national asset to be sold off — but it if was, the money should be kept in the South Island.

In a paper to the conference on electricity pricing, a Canterbury United Council economist, Mr Phil Donnelly, said the whole country was probably paying what could be described as a monopoly profit because of a lack of competition in electricity generation. In an open market the substantial over-supply of electricity in New Zealand would force the price down, he said.