Nothing can mask the fact that power prices are too high

“The issue is what power companies paid for those hydro stations, and no amount of spin can change that.

“Even Business New Zealand’s own report admits: ‘Increases in retail electricity prices over the past decade have not been well explained nor justified. The relationship between costs, wholesale electricity prices, and retail prices is not well understood and retail margins … remain opaque.’

”Our hydroelectricity has some of the lowest operating costs in the world but generators are profiting by overcharging New Zealanders for the value of our public water. They receive the same price when they sell on the wholesale market as more expensive forms of power generation.

“Labour’s policy will stop the effective privatisation of the public rivers, which allows the value of our low cost hydro power to be captured by the power companies rather than passed on to our businesses and households.

“Labour’s NZ Power will reduce household electricity bills by hundreds of dollars a year and it will lower prices for businesses by 5-7%.”

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