MP Gavan Herlihy Absolutely Wrong

MEDIACOM-RELEASE-TRUSTPOWER

Statements by Otago MP Gavan Herlihy about potential 40 percent savings for Otago customers taking up an offer by Combined Rural Traders and Meridian Energy were absolutely wrong and misleading in the extreme according to Tauranga based electricity retailer TrustPower.

TrustPower Marketing Manager Keith Tempest said Mr Herlihy had clearly attempted to analyse the impact on his own power account using figures contained in the offer, which was mailed to CRT members last week. However, his calculations of 40 percent savings had failed to make any allowance for fixed and variable line charges, which all retailers have to collect from customers on behalf of the local lines company and the national grid operator Transpower.

TrustPower says that a proper anaylsis of delivered energy charges revealed that, based on the prices outlined in the CRT and Meridian offer, Otago customers using the 10,000 units per year quoted by Mr Herlihy would be $15 better off remaining with TrustPower as a customer under its Friends loyalty programme. Mr Herlihy's calculated savings at his wool shed and for his irrigation scheme were similarly flawed Mr Tempest said.

"This is yet another example of a politician with insufficient knowledge of the realities of the electricity market attempting to make political capital in election year. It is difficult enough for consumers to get to grips with the impacts of the recent electricity reforms without Mr Herlihy's own total confusion adding to the problem," Mr Tempest said.

"I suggest that people check the fine print and detail of any offer very closely indeed. If a person of Mr Herlihy's obvious ability and intellect can manage to misinterpret the CRT and Meridian offer to this extent, consumers will be facing even more serious problems," he said.

ENDS....

MEDIA RELEASE FROM TRUSTPOWER

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