Tina Schirr: Business NZ Energy Council Executive Director on businesses being hit by surging gas prices

There's a view businesses have been taken by surprise by surging gas prices. 

Energy management company Optima and Business NZ's joint survey reveals gas prices have risen by more than 100% on average in the past five years. 

Nearly half report it's led to them reducing operations, increased prices, or cutting staff. 

Business NZ Energy Council Executive Director Tina Schirr told Mike Hosking they didn't know how quickly supply would dwindle. 

She says they knew there'd be moderate reduction over the next few years, but didn't think it'd be this steep over the last two years. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New data on just what a mess we've got with gas.
Business New Zealand Energy Council tells us this morning, nearly
half of the gas using businesses have produced operations, increased
prices or and or cut stuff. Immediate actions needed. But
what action? There's the question. Tina Share as the executive
director of Business New Zealand Energy Council and is with us.
Good morning, good morning. I know the major users met
with Shane Jones on Friday. Did anything come out of it?

(00:22):
I mean short of going we're running out of gas.
We're running out of gas. We are running out of gas.
What do we do?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well? It's actually on Friday we had a bit of
a different format. We had for the first time a
guess your userforum am held with us and Optimi toget
it and it was more for the smaller, medium sized users.
So we had some major users in the room, but
let's just say out of the one hundred and fifty
ninety percent was probably more your you know, brewing companies,

(00:50):
Tomato grows food producers that are producing cereal and that
sort of production, So quite a different audience and therefore
probably people that are not often heard about the gas
situation idea was obviously.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
But some important point is it's all very well sitting
around in a room saying we're running out of gas.
Is anything that's being done about it? Can any won't
do anything about it?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, there was a little bit of that that we
talked about. The problem which is its well known and
often the smaller ones are probably hit harder because they
have maybe less opportunity to get to other technologies away
from it. But there is there is actually some business
that can convert. So you have about forty percent that

(01:39):
don't really see commercially viable in the next five years,
but there is also a chunk that could convert if
you do remove things like some of the costs barriers,
or if you help with infrastructure being built and upgraded around.
But the problem is that you just mentioned the next
two years. Even if they do convert the next two years,

(02:02):
something like that is not happening overnight.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
And when you say can book convert to what.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
We have, for example biogas or for example electricity, it's
probably the most two common things that are always discussed
when you think of conversion or or more energy efficiency production.
So you had also eca in a room, which is
promoting more energy efficiency production. And when you say what
sort of things we are discussed in terms of solutions,

(02:32):
they thinking of, you know, going on site inspecting our business,
what the what are the business opportunities in terms of
conversion and then heading in some ideas. I mean, there
wasn't I think they're also slowly thinking about potentially concessional
loans and so actually low interest loans to help business.

(02:53):
Maybe converting.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Can be blunt and suggesced. I'm not suggesting, I'm siging.
I'm just saying, as a devil's advocate, is this not
the price of business? I mean, if you need to convert,
you need to convert, and that's the cost of doing business,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, no one really saw how steep this reduction is
going to be in the last two years, right. I
feel like there was a little bit of a writing
on the world with reduction over the last let's just say,
five to ten years in sort of like a moderate level,
but not as steep as we saw it.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Okay, all right, to appreciate it, ten to share who's
is with the business New Zealand Energy Council

Speaker 2 (03:32):
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