Headline: Govt offers Genesis fire-sale as families struggle with rising power bills
It’s ordinary New Zealanders who are losing from National’s asset sales. The asset sales have cost us $500 million so far and power price rises are out of control
National is offering investors huge returns in Genesis, paid for by power consumers and taxpayers, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.
The Government has announced that Genesis shares will be priced to produce a dividend of 13.5%-16.5% and New Zealand retail investors will get a free bonus share for every 15 shares that they hold for a year. The dividends substantially exceed forecast earnings per share, financed by running down the value of Genesis’s assets.
“While ordinary Kiwi families struggle with rising power bills, National is offering investors the chance to asset-strip the last fully publicly-owned power company,” said Dr Norman.
“Genesis is forecasting a big increase in power prices over the next year, which will go straight from the pockets of Kiwi families to the new, private shareholders. On top of that, the plan seems to be to run down Genesis’s assets so it can pay out even larger dividends.
“National gave massive tax cuts to the wealthiest people, racking up huge deficits, and then used those deficits as an excuse to sell our assets to the people who got the tax cuts.
“It’s ordinary New Zealanders who are losing from National’s asset sales. The asset sales have cost us $500 million so far and power price rises are out of control,” said Dr Norman.
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