Latest / Best of Business / Shane Jones: Resources Minister reveals he's focusing on how to ration gas to keep businesses afloat

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Shane Jones: Resources Minister reveals he's focusing on how to ration gas to keep businesses afloat · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: Good Afternoon. There are reports that Shane Jones is investigating
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  Speaker 2: whether he can or should ration our gas supply to
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  Speaker 2: keep certain businesses going. Now this comes after Balance lost
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  Speaker 2: its gas supply to Contact Energy so that Contact Energy
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  Speaker 2: could supply homes. Shane Jones is the Associate Minister of
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  Speaker 2: Energy and with us right now.
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  Speaker 3: Hey Shane, Hey, good, a good afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: Are you seriously considering rationing?
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  Speaker 3: I'll take us some advice as to how we can
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  Speaker 3: dedicate the guess to the most important purpose. From Andy
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  Speaker 3: Night at the Gas Company and our NB officials. Naturally,
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of resistance to the idea of the
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  Speaker 3: crown replacing the market. But I've got to tell you,
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  Speaker 3: with the gas plummeting and the ability of gentailors to
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  Speaker 3: burn more coal, we don't want to see them profiting
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  Speaker 3: from too much gas at the cost of ordinary Key weis,
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  Speaker 3: who are really living in grim circumstances in relation to
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  Speaker 3: their business life.
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  Speaker 2: Are you considering banning new gas connections on new builds.
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  Speaker 3: No, No, I'm aware that there is a proposal to
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  Speaker 3: transition people in their homes away from gas to solar energy,
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  Speaker 3: and they've done that in Ausy, and that should be
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  Speaker 3: looked at. But I'm not in the business of banning
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  Speaker 3: any gas experience. That was my unfortunate acquiescence six years ago,
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  Speaker 3: and hopefully you realize I've paid my penance.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So what happens if you do get into the
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  Speaker 2: rationing business. What happens to people who need gas to
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  Speaker 2: run their stoves?
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  Speaker 3: Well, let's just step back. The first thing is we're
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  Speaker 3: going to deploy some of this two hundred million dollars
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  Speaker 3: in the short term salerate the delivery of gas amongst
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  Speaker 3: those limited number of companies that are still sinking wells
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  Speaker 3: in Taranaky and can increase the amount of gas. The
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  Speaker 3: bigger problem, however, is that the gas decline is continuing
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  Speaker 3: down inexorably. Trying we are trying to work with firms
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  Speaker 3: to transition them onto electricity. But I got to tell you, Heather,
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  Speaker 3: the electricity prices are still stupendously high, and that won't
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  Speaker 3: change until we've tamed the animal spirits in the gentile totually.
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  Speaker 2: But listen, Shane, answer that question for me. If you
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  Speaker 2: design to ration and you give it to business ahead
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  Speaker 2: of consumers who live in houses, what happens to the
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  Speaker 2: houses that need to run gas through their stoves? What
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  Speaker 2: do they do?
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  Speaker 3: No, we're not making any blood decisions. For example, we've
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  Speaker 3: got hospitals and schools that are dependent on gas. So no, no, no,
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  Speaker 3: we're not going to make any blunt decisions. We're going
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  Speaker 3: to first make sure that we've got high quality advice
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  Speaker 3: and what is actually doable. And that's why I would
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  Speaker 3: turn to arguably the cleverest man about gas in New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand and the CEO of the gas company.
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  Speaker 2: Listen, is the more co idea go with for you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it originally started, I'm told, with Contact Energy before
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  Speaker 3: I had the portfolio, And well, you know, we've got
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  Speaker 3: to move through the various options that the officials will
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  Speaker 3: provide to us, and we haven't got to that point.
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  Speaker 3: But their mixed views about it. One view is that
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  Speaker 3: the crown is absorbing the detritus of the gent tailors
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  Speaker 3: will lay swam off and make more money, but that
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  Speaker 3: won't be happening. Their glory days are over. And the
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  Speaker 3: other is if we need gas and coal, it's probably
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  Speaker 3: a good idea to ensure that we have our own
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  Speaker 3: reserves of coal rather than just bringing it in from Indonesia.
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  Speaker 3: And if we're going to get more gas, either imported
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  Speaker 3: or extracted from our own land, then the government needs
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  Speaker 3: to have an integrally involved and that's keep the lights
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  Speaker 3: on right, Shane.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for your time, Shane Jones, the Associate Minister of Energy.
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