TrustPower Welcomes Energy Saving Programme

Media Statement
Thursday 9th June, 2008

Media Statement from TrustPower

TrustPower Welcomes Energy Saving Programme

TrustPower welcomes the introduction of a national energy savings programme, the occasional need for which it says should not be regarded as a bad thing.

Chief Executive Keith Tempest says New Zealand is very fortunate in having a large part of its electricity generated from natural resources - water, wind, and geothermal energy, which provides New Zealand electricity users with good insulation from high international fuel prices.

"New Zealand has electricity prices which rank amongst the lowest in the world, simply because we do not have to rely heavily on imported fuels such as oil, liquefied natural gas, coal or nuclear. If we were totally reliant on those imported fuels, electricity costs would be rising at a similar rate to petrol, or even cheese for that matter, reflecting international commodity pricing."

Mr Tempest says that while our heavy reliance on hydro does occasionally cause difficulties in severe drought years, the answer is not expensive "standby" generation, which would sit idle for most of the time, adding to consumer's everyday power bills.

"The sensible solution is to add more sustainable generation, to complement what we already have. More wind generation will complement the South Island's hydro generation, allowing water to be stored when the wind blows for use when it does not. At the same time more geothermal energy can provide additional base load capacity to complement the existing mix of hydro, wind and thermal plants in the North Island."

ENDS

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