Electricity Authority knows best, and ignores the rest

Electricity Authority knows best, and ignores the rest.

A report completed by industry expert, Dr John Small of Covec, and submitted to the Electricity Authority on Friday, clearly shows that the EA has not taken on board the advice of over 60 experts, the majority of whom agree that the EA’s proposed Transmission Pricing Methodology reforms are not superior to alternatives – including the status quo.

The group’s spokesperson, Kim Campbell said “There is a large group of stakeholders who have had concerns about the EA’s process for quite a while. We were worried that the EA had not fully engaged with the expert advice it had received in its review of the current TPM, and its process to develop replacement TPM guidelines, and so we commissioned an independent expert to tell us what all the experts have been saying.”

“The group considers that both the number of issues in play and the duration of the process to date meant that there was a real risk that views expressed early in the process would not be re-considered at a later stage - even though they remained relevant.”

“This risk is of course heightened by the sheer number of submissions lodged since 2012.”

“The report shows that even though the EA has received a mountain of expert opinion telling them they are heading down the wrong track, in nearly all the key aspects of their processes, they have failed to acknowledge or reply to the concerns many collectively raised.”

“Expert opinion is strongly against the direction of travel when it comes to the EA’s beneficiaries-pay charges, especially applying them to assets that have already been built, and queries and criticises the reach and the complexity of the EA’s proposals.”

“The EA is continuing to force through changes to the way Kiwis pay for their power – choosing to think they, as a regulator, know best – and ignoring the rest.”

“The EA has put up their umbrellas and are now running around looking for rain. We need to press the pause button, clearly identify the problem and work together on a solution. If not, this extravagant and expensive experiment will hurt businesses, our small towns, our cities and Kiwi families up and down the country,” Mr Campbell said.

Stakeholders include: Counties Power, Counties Power Consumer Trust, EMA, Entrust, Federated Farmers Auckland, Northpower, Top Energy, Trustpower and Vector.

© Scoop Media