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Source: ONE News -
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The government is calling for electricity companies to freeze household power bills this winter.
The call follows a Commerce Commission report showing generator and retail companies have overcharged New Zealanders by billions of dollars in the last few years.
The government has already demanded a review into pricing and says any increases before that is completed would be audacious.
The four-year long Commerce Commission investigation has revealed wholesale electricity is overpriced by $4.3 billion between 2001 and mid-2007.
That's around $1000 for every man woman and child in the country.
"I guess it goes to show what consumers have known for some time, every month when their power bills come out, that they've been charged too much," says Sue Chetwin of Consumer New Zealand.
The four power companies under the spotlight, Contact, Genesis, Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy haven't broken the law.
They have been simply maximising their profits.
According to Meridian they haven't even been able to do that.
"In dry years Meridian's unable to generate because our storage lakes are low. So it's a nonsense to say that we make lots of money in those years. In fact those years cost us money," says Alan Seay of Meridian.
The Commerce Commission says it's likely the companies have pushed those wholesale price hikes onto consumers.
It's unclear just how much but power has risen 72% in the last nine years. That's a rise nearly three times greater than inflation.
Now, the government is demanding companies put a hold on increases.
"There is no room at all for electricity price rises while this matter is under consideration," says Gerry Brownlee, Energy Minister.
It wants a freeze to continue until September. That's when we'll have some idea what a government review into power prices paid by householders reveals.
