Simon Bridges is describing a mafia, not power companies

Simon Bridges says businesses scared to speak about energy costs, fear retaliation from power companies

A top business leader says New Zealand businesses are worried about being identified when sharing their concerns with energy costs out of fear of commercial retaliation from power companies.

Simon Bridges, the head of the Auckland Business Chamber, said it was a “troubling insight” that came out of running a survey on the impact of energy costs on businesses.

“Whether this fear reflects an actual or perceived risk, it points to serious issues with the way market power is being exercised, and is really worrying,” Bridges said.

This is the dark power of Monopoly, duopoly, oligopoly playing out.

Simon Bridges is describing a mafia, not power companies!

We saw the exact same stand over tactics in the Supermarket Duopoly…

An inquiry into the supermarket duopoly is unpacking claims of dodgy pricing practices and poor treatment of suppliers who are too afraid to speak out. But some question whether it will make any difference to what we pay at the till.

…the insight that Prof Robert MacCulloch brings highlights that all corporate NZ does now is pay political parties of the right to gain them legislative dominance…

MacCulloch, possibly New Zealand’s leading academic economist, has been fearless in combating oligopolies in the economy and exposing the “cosyism” in our political system. As his last blog post says, he’s “exposed the links between the Big Banks, Supermarkets & Building Firms with our Minister of Finance and PM. It has all been too much for the establishment to bear.”

In interviews and writings this week, MacCulloch has outlined how the attempts of himself and others to hold powerful interests to account have been met, not with reasoned rebuttal, but with threats, blacklisting, and institutional pressure designed to silence dissent. His experience provides a rare insider’s account of how New Zealand’s political and business elite police the boundaries of acceptable debate. MacCulloch explicitly claims to be closing his website after receiving “threats from current and former cabinet ministers.”

He has also recounted specific threats and institutional pushback, such as the supermarket chain Foodstuffs attempting to silence critiques of the duopoly by contacting Auckland University over a colleague’s writing. He also revealed that a director of a major New Zealand corporation had recently complained to his employer about his writing. The impact is chilling.

MacCulloch’s ire frequently targets the New Zealand Initiative, a think tank he repeatedly labels as the “National Party’s Adviser / Think Tank” and a lobbying group for corporate monopolies.

He highlights the connections:

• • Finance Minister Willis was a Director of the NZ Initiative.
  • The Prime Minister’s Chief Economic Adviser, Matt Burgess, was a Senior Economist at the Initiative and previously advised Bill English. Chris Luxon, as CEO of Air New Zealand, also used to attend Initiative meetings.
  • The Initiative’s board includes figures like Scott Perkins (Non-Executive Director of Woolworths), Chris Quinn (Chief Executive of Foodstuffs North Island), and Barbara Chapman (former Chair of a Big Bank).
  • The Chair of the NZ Initiative, Roger Partridge, is also the former Chair of Bell Gully, where Willis’ father was a partner.

MacCulloch accuses the Initiative of being “Pro-Monopoly, Anti-Consumer.” He cites their support for the Foodstuffs North and South Island supermarket merger, their push for lower bank capital requirements (which he argues would shift risk to taxpayers), and their opposition to requiring internet giants to pay for local news content (Google is a member of the Initiative).

He argues that the National Party hasn’t done the necessary work on economic policy, which means that the NZ Initiative can step in with some ready-made answers, which the Government essentially adopts as its policy. In this sense, MacCulloch accuses the Initiative of being a cypher for what the oligopolies want implemented by the Coalition Government.

…Look what part Privatisation has done to our electricity market…

Electricity sector privatisation is destroying manufacturing industry

In 2022 and 2023, First Union, the NZ Council of Trade Unions, and 350 Aotearoa released a series of reports entitled Generating Scarcity, about the impact of the partial privatisation of Meridian, Mighty River Power (now Mercury) and Genesis under the previous National government.

They argued that in the decade since those privatisations, the gentailers – Meridian, Mercury, Genesis and Contact (fully privatised in 1999) – paid out $10.8 billion in dividends to shareholders, while total generating capacity increased by one measly percent.

For every dollar invested in new capacity over that period, the gentailers paid out $2.41 in dividends. From 2016 to 2020, gentailer dividends were around four times the scale of new investment, while consented capacity simply wasn’t built.

Gentailer debt levels remain strikingly low, especially in light of last year’s gentailer-funded “The Future is Electric” report, whose own preferred investment pathway would see annual generating capacity increase by 163 percent in the coming 25 or so years.

Our grid leans heavily on hydro, and therefore needs an engineered solution to the so-called “dry year problem”. Hedging the network with wind, solar and battery storage is the cheapest fix, but it still costs money.

We all pay the price for underinvestment. With high mortgage rates and rising rents, low-income households can’t always afford to keep their homes warm and dry, lumping costs onto the struggling health system.

…so as you open your power bills and scream in shock at the prices, thank John Key and his privatisation of our hydro power infrastructure and wonder how this current Government’s privatisation agenda will cost you in the future as well.

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