John Duffy: Chief Executive of Consumer New Zealand discusses open letter to Parliament

Over the weekend, a group of well-known organizations published an open letter to the Prime Minister. 

Organizations like the EMA, 2degrees and Consumer New Zealand all signed the letter calling for the government to reform the energy sector. 

Chief Executive of Consumer New Zealand John Duffy said that the government needs to have a fast, but measured response. 

He said, ‘[We don’t] want the minister to rush into a knee-jerk reaction.’  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Over the weekend, a group of well known organizations
published an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for
the immediate reform to our energy sector. They believe the
current system holds back productivity and isn't in the best
interest of New Zealanders. And that's true. And some of
the signatories include the EMA, two Degrees and Consumer New Zealand.
So from Consumer we've got their chief executive, John Duffy,

(00:23):
who's woken up early for us. Good morning to you, John,
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
How's it going good?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Why an open letter?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, we think the time is right. I mean, there's
a lot of pressure coming from a lot of sectors
and we really wanted to demonstrate that quite a disparate
group of organizations with lots of different purposes can actually
get together and be quite aligned on an issue as

(00:51):
important as this. And we've got a number of things
that are happening in the sector and one of the
key ones is that there's a brand new review of
how the sector is performing sitting on the Minister's desk.
The Cabinet and the Minister are considering their options right now,
and we really wanted to send a message to say, hey,
you've got this huge group of organizations here that's really

(01:14):
worried about the direction we're heading in. It's time to
make some good decisions that help both industry and consumers.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yeah, is Simon Watt's doing a good enough job, as
you say. He's got this report on his desk. It's
into regulatory settings. It's not about Dam's or geothermalo any think,
And he says the government will make an announcement in
due course. Is he sitting on his hands? No?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I don't think. So. These are big, big decisions, right,
So we've tried to kind of convey the importance of
it in the letter. This is one of the key
inputs into our economy. If we can't fuel our industry
and we can't support the well being of our people
with affordable electricity, we're in real trouble as a nation.

(02:02):
So we don't necessarily want the minister to rush into
a knee jerk reaction. We need decisions to be well
thought through and measured. But I guess we would like
to see submergency in the decision making, and we anticipate
something coming in the coming months, so that is quick enough.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, So that is to ginger him up. Your letter
very accurately describes the problems. Of course, we're all about
the solutions here, So would you like to help the
government into coming up with a solution for the energy sector.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Okay, absolutely, And obviously, given the organization that I represent,
i'd encourage the government to be putting people at the
center of any decision making that it's doing, because at
the moment, consumers aren't really or eltricity consumers, the people
of New Zealand, households aren't really that much of actor

(03:00):
and how our system operates. We think about sure, security
is supply, that's important, keeping the lights on, but really
our focus is Unfortunately, the way the market built is
built is on making returns for shareholders. So, like many
industries across the economy, the way the market is geared,

(03:21):
businesses operate to produce shareholder return, which is really important because,
particularly in a capital intensive industry like electricity generation, you
need money coming in so that you can build things. Absolutely,
but when the return to shareholders is outweighing the service
that's been provided to customers, and the return to shareholders

(03:44):
is being prioritized over even investing new generation, we know
we've got a problem.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Good stuff, John Duffy. He as the chief executive of
Consumer New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
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