Associate Finance Spokesperson

Low power bills will kick-start Kiwi business

Labour’s NZ Power plan to cut power bills will provide a real boost to New Zealand businesses and the economy, says Labour Associate Finance spokesperson Shane Jones

“The super profits earned by power companies not only hurt Kiwi families, they are holding back New Zealand business. Independent economists Berl have shown that our policy would provide a $450 million boost to the economy that will create 5,000 jobs.

“That’s just the start. These reforms will cut bills to commercial and industrial users by 5 – 7 per cent. Lower energy costs have the capacity to transform New Zealand businesses. Our economy’s Achilles heel is our inability to turn enough of our resources into high-value goods that sell for a premium overseas.

“We need to improve the returns from those resources by manufacturing them into quality products. The cost of power here is one reason we struggle to compete with other manufacturing countries.

“Berl said the largest impacts of Labour’s electricity cost changes on any sector will be for manufacturing.

“Reducing power bills will give our manufacturers a competitive edge. Combined with our reform of monetary policy to make our currency more competitive they will be in a much stronger position when exporting.

“Investors take energy costs and availability into account when developing investment proposals. By harnessing our low cost energy we can facilitate and enable the growth of further secondary and tertiary processing in New Zealand. That’s great for our economy and for creating jobs.

“It is totally unreasonable that such initiatives should be hobbled by an energy system which gouges the consumer base and a Government that continues to protest that power is not over-priced,” says Shane Jones.

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