Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO on the Government pushing ahead with the LNG terminal, scrapping the power bill levy

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Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO on the Government pushing ahead with the LNG terminal, scrapping the power bill levy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, the government's backing down on a levy to pay
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: for its proposed gas terminal. They want the big power
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: companies to pay for it. Only problem is how Mike
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Casey is the rewiring altro CEO and he joins me, now,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: thanks for your time this morning.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Mike, more than a fran good to be on.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: How do you think power companies will respond to the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: news that they're responsible for building the terminal?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I think this is a good move by the
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: government because ultimately we need to figure out ways of
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: covering the dry year risk that exists in our economy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: And the stick that the government's put up saying hey,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: look you guys, you're going to have to figure out
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: how to build this stuff. You're going to have to
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: figure out how to cover this or we're going to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: find you, I think is a really good move in
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the right direction. That being said, it is really interesting
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: now because with the sheer amounts of renewables rolled out
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: that's happening, and including soul of it's now going on rooftops,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the risk of dry year is just diminishing so fast
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: that I'm a firm believer that we just don't need LNG.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: It's just an absolute overkill. So it's going to be interesting.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like today's announcement was kind of a
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: really really good bad announcement in my opinion.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Do you think it'll get built.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Mike, I sincerely hope not, because I think that billion
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: dollars or north of a billion dollars has got to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: come from somewhere. I'm really happy it's not being levied
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: on people's power bills. But the answer is where is
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: that money ultimately going to come from. Is it going
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: to come from taxpayers bills instead, which essentially we're all
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: our interest to users and we're all taxpayers, so it's
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: the same outcome. Or is it going to come from industry.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And one of the things that I think is missing
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: from this in a big way is the fact that
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: we're running out of gas in this country. We have
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to figure out how to get our industry that supports
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: about two hundred and fifty thousand jobs off gas, and
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: that is something that I think is just so paramount
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: that we have to figure out how to do. And
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: so yeah, that's what we're big on at the moment.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Is now supporting the government to do that.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: You mentioned taxpayers there in industry. Do you think it
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: could potentially creep the costs could be passed on quietly
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to consumers through our power buildings.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, at the end of the day, if we
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: build this L and G terminal and it is the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: gentailors that are forced to pay for it, then absolutely
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: it is. But I think the answer here is is
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: it looks like the gentailors might not be forced to
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: pay for it, And if they're not forced to pay
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: for it, then that is a great outcome for it
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: for power users in New Zealand. But where does that
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: money come from? And I think that's the one thing
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that's just a question that has been left completely unanswered
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: in yesterday's announcement.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, so do you buy the argument that if we
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: alleviate the risk for a dry year, it means that
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: we've got lower forward pricing so consumers won't be landed.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: With it potentially. But I think we're alleviating the risk already,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: which is really really exciting. The amount of wind and
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: solar and geothermal that is being built now or is
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: in the pipeline, and solar on farms and on residential households,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: it's just really accelerating, and one thing that we know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: for example, is that in a dry year you get
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: about eleven percent more yield from solar systems. So the
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: more that we generate in winter from other renewable sources,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the longer we can hold onto our water. For we
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: hold on tild water four, the less risk there is
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: for a dry year. And so rather than backing it
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: up right at the end, we're all about, well, let's
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: just accelerate this renewables pull out, which is in the
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: best interest of our economy and solve the problem that way.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: That was going to be my question. Will there be
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: enough renewables online to replace this terminal in the job?
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Yes? I do, Yes, I think many many people, including myself,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: believe that that there's now the case. The thing is, though,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: is though I'm not the energy minister who has really
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: really high blood pressure when those late levels start to
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: get a little bit low, and so we need to
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: also look at, Okay, well, if they're adamant honor what
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: they call an insurance policy, what is the best insurance policy?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Is it spending north of a billion dollars on an
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: L and GENT terminal to import more foreign energy from
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: overseas at high prices. We do it with foreign energy
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that we already import. So we have the big giant
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: mountain of col hunting. And one thing that I'm really
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: big on is if we have to have this insurance policy,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: we're already in investing in more diesel storage. It's not
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: very expensive to change gas power plants over to also
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: run on diesel. And maybe if we're going to hold
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: onto more diesel in New Zealand, why don't we use
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: that as an option to bridge that dry year gap.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Should it happen, Mike, really nice to talk to you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Enjoy your time at field Days.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I can't wait. It's farmer going
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: to field Days. It's the best out of the year.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mike that Mike Casey is the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: rewiring a CEO.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: to news Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or
• 4:35
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