Scott quizzed on power future

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 342, 3 July 1990, Page 13

Scott quizzed on power future

Electricity bills for former Taumarunui Energy consumers have been cut by an average 20 percent since the King Country Electric Power Board took over the former borough operations.

That statistic surfaced during discussions between board members and Tongariro MP Noel Scott, who attended the board' s June meeting in Taumarunui on Friday. Board members were keen to point out that electricity consumers within their area are being efficiently serviced at the moment, and that there was no need for power supply chqpges proposed by the Government. Mr Scott told board members that he was not an expert in their field, and did not pretend to have all the answers. He believed many of their concerns would be answered once I the proposed legislation got to Select Committee stage and the board should continue to make its concerns known to all appropriate parties.

He offered to take their key questions to Wellington and set up contacts with the Minister of Energy and officials. "My expectations are that you will refine your list of questions to find the issues you want definitive answers to and I will endeavour to get those answers." Mr Scott had earlier been sent a list of

questions from the board to research for Friday's meeting, but some of them had no answers at present, he said. Those raised at the meeting covered the impact of corporatisation on rural customers, the appointment and composition of the boards of directors and trustees, how the board of directors could sell higher unit rates to remote rural customers; and the apparent similarity between the proposed rural co-opera-

tives and the old board structure. Noel Scott was also asked about the conflict between conservation values and commercial requirements, why Electricorp's generation costs were much higher than the board's and about future prospects for board staff. Chairman Ken Street said the KCEPB did not have too much argument with the main thrust of the government's policy generally, because a lot of it had been taken from the Better deal proposals

put up by the Electricity Supply Association but there were specific concerns. He wanted to know why the rural electricity prices could not be "carved in stone" as the Government had promised with residential telephone rentals in the sale of Telecom. Noel Scott said until the full details of restructuring were worked out Government was reluctant to give other than generalised assurance that social subsidies would be provided if proved necessary.

His colleague Jim Sutton had already given a strong assurance that social subsidy mechanisms would be incorporated in the final arrangements. The board was already giving good service at the moment, Mr Street said, and it did not see any need for social subsidies. Board member Terry Podmore asked Mr Scott how the board could explain to Kaitieke customers that they would be paying 25 cents a unit for electricity under the

new arrangements while those in Taumarunui were paying seven cents. At present all residential users pay seven cents a unit, and the townspeople had not complained about the small element of cross-subsidy that existed (According to the general manager Peter Till, about five per cent for a few consumers.) Mr Podmore said if King Country Energy wanted to set a tariff of seven cents a unit right across the board why shouldn't .it be allowed to do so? In response Mr Scott said: "If the present system was working perfectly well, kicking that about doesn't. seem to be very clever at all."