Latest / Best of Business / Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the group calling for the big four gentailers to be broken up

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Simon Bridges: Auckland Business Chamber CEO on the group calling for the big four gentailers to be broken up · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: Then you welcome to the program. Thank you. Seven minutes
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  Speaker 2: after five. So, business and infrastructure leaders are teaming up
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  Speaker 2: to call for a splitting up of the Jen Taylor's
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  Speaker 2: Ukham Business Chamber and the Northern Infrastructure Forum see it
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  Speaker 2: as the viable path forward to meet our ever growing
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  Speaker 2: hunger for energy. They say splitting the generation and retail
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  Speaker 2: arms would increase competition and unlock thirty billion dollars each
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  Speaker 2: year to the economy. So the CEO of the Orkham
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  Speaker 2: Business Chamber is Simon Bridges and he joins me to
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  Speaker 2: discuss this afternoon.
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  Speaker 3: Simon, Hey, can I Andrew?
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  Speaker 2: What's your plan?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: I mean looks pretty simple. If we want affordable, abundant energy,
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  Speaker 4: and I think we do. Whether industry, whether you tech
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  Speaker 4: and you want data centers, whether you're a small medium
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  Speaker 4: business with your households, and you've been suffering. The issue
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  Speaker 4: is one of incentives.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 4: What we've got at the moment is for gent tailors,
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  Speaker 4: and I'm not critical of them.
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  Speaker 3: They're doing what I would do if I was there.
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  Speaker 4: They control the market, and the incentives at play mean that,
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  Speaker 4: look if they allow additional supply that brings down prices
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  Speaker 4: and reduces their income from their existing long paid for assets.
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  Speaker 4: So you know short, what's good for them scarce supply
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  Speaker 4: and high prices isn't good for the wider economy. So
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  Speaker 4: we've worked hard. I must admit cleverer people than me
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  Speaker 4: in the sector, as you say, independent retailers, quite a
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  Speaker 4: few independent in the energy sector, manufacturers, industry, and we've.
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  Speaker 3: Come up well.
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  Speaker 4: I think a simple but clear effective two step plan. Firstly,
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  Speaker 4: operational separation of the gent tailors, because what that does
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  Speaker 4: is it allows an opening up of competition in retail.
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  Speaker 4: It means independent retailers get equal terms and access to
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  Speaker 4: the generation that they need into the market that they need.
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  Speaker 4: And then establishment of these things called ol Teza's. I
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  Speaker 4: won't bore you too much with that, really long term
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  Speaker 4: agreements that at Aussie or at least in New South Wales.
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  Speaker 4: They're implemented with good effective meant a lot more power
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  Speaker 4: being constructed and they allow for, as I say, a
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  Speaker 4: lot more power, more independent projects.
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  Speaker 2: So how do we do this? I mean, are you
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  Speaker 2: saying we need to give them incentives so they do
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  Speaker 2: it of their own volition or do we need to
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  Speaker 2: have compulsion from a central government?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: I think it's very simple. Actually, this comes down to government.
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  Speaker 4: This comes down to the political parties not talking anymore.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I think every political party we've engaged with,
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  Speaker 4: and I think we've fundamentally engaged with them all from
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  Speaker 4: ACT through to you know, the Opportunities Party that aren't
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  Speaker 4: even there yet, they all agree with the problem definition, right,
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  Speaker 4: and they circle around that. But the time for the
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  Speaker 4: discussion documents, the chat is over. What we need is
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  Speaker 4: political will we need them to simply say, yep, you
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  Speaker 4: know what we're signing up for, this will do it.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm telling you now, if they do, we will
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  Speaker 4: look not on day one, but we will have more
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  Speaker 4: affordable all.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I again, in the government, the people of New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: are fifty one percent shareholders, so it's kind of our
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  Speaker 2: company in a certain way. But you have to ask
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  Speaker 2: a question why you, as a business guy promoting a
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  Speaker 2: government going in there and messing with people's businesses.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, I take why because in the end, I see
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  Speaker 4: the effect on small and medium businesses. I see the
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  Speaker 4: effect on the tech sector. I see the effect on
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  Speaker 4: industry that's not only in some cases pulling back because
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  Speaker 4: they can't do more of the cans of baked beans
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  Speaker 4: or whatever, or the other heavy industry they're trying to do.
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  Speaker 3: Actually they're shutting down. And why are they doing that?
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  Speaker 4: Because in the end, we have a mismatch between power
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  Speaker 4: and how much we've got and the prices of it
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  Speaker 4: and what we need to grow a stronger economy. I
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  Speaker 4: mean to come back to what I said to you, Andrew.
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  Speaker 4: What is in the interests of the small number of companies,
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  Speaker 4: unfortunately is not good for the wider economy. Do these
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  Speaker 4: two things get more power at a more affordable prices
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  Speaker 4: and you get a stronger economy. So I think it's
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  Speaker 4: very much overall and business as interests.
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  Speaker 2: Now, as the business guy, what do you say about
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  Speaker 2: Christopher Leckson's comments in Rotorua. Is he losing his standing
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  Speaker 2: with the business community in New Zealand by calling them children.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I don't agree with the comments that made, and
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  Speaker 4: I think the apology was right. I think, you know, firstly,
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  Speaker 4: the adult child comment, you know, wasn't right.
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  Speaker 3: Adults are free to do what they want.
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  Speaker 4: But you know, in New Zealand, with the tax, the
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  Speaker 4: red tape, the lockdown, the various things government have done
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  Speaker 4: to business, business actually hasn't been able to be an adult.
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  Speaker 4: So that's sort of the first point i'd make. I
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  Speaker 4: think the second thing that's important here is, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we just don't to New Zealand. I wish we do
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  Speaker 4: when there's some cracking big companies, but we don't have
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  Speaker 4: the strong corporate sector that's even saying a aliarly alone
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  Speaker 4: in America has this really is a nation of small
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  Speaker 4: medium businesses, self made business men and woman.
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  Speaker 3: And I think we just have to acknowledge.
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  Speaker 4: Actually as a generalization, I appreciate there's always outliers, there's
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  Speaker 4: always different circumstances, but it hasn't been easy. And so yeah,
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  Speaker 4: I think it was right that Prime Minister de Luxe
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  Speaker 4: and apologized.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Simon, I thank you for your time. Simeon
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  Speaker 2: Bridges from the Auckland Chamber
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