Families in energy poverty while Brownlee looks for magic pudding solution
12/08/09 14:41 Filed in: News Releases
New recommendations on energy costs provide no hope of quick relief for
households facing huge power bills this year, Progressive Wigram MP Jim
Anderton says.
"Gerry Brownlee is relying on a magic pudding solution that reduces
costs but no one's going to pay.
"Finding a new structure in energy could take years, while there is a
crisis of electricity poverty this winter," Jim Anderton says.
His Wigram electorate office has been inundated with record numbers of
people who can't afford their winter power bills.
For example, a solo mother with an eleven month old baby got a power
bill for $369 for a four-week period. A low income young working couple
in a Housing NZ flat got a power bill for $400 for four weeks, and a
superannuitant living alone in his own home got a power bill for $205.
"Many families are wondering how they will pay their bills. Power bills
have been driven up by a combination of an early start to winter, with
very cold months early this year, and power bills that have risen faster
than inflation.
"There are alternatives. The state of Victoria, for example, provides
low-income households with more than $1 billion a year in concessions
for essential services. It pays a rebate to some households that reduces
the cost of LPG heating gas. In the United Kingdom, the government
provides a winter fuel payment of NZ$750 for pensioners over 60, and it
pays NZ$1200 for the over-80s.
"Today's review shows energy companies are charging too much for power
and some of those profits should be used to help very poor New Zealand
households," Jim Anderton said.
households facing huge power bills this year, Progressive Wigram MP Jim
Anderton says.
"Gerry Brownlee is relying on a magic pudding solution that reduces
costs but no one's going to pay.
"Finding a new structure in energy could take years, while there is a
crisis of electricity poverty this winter," Jim Anderton says.
His Wigram electorate office has been inundated with record numbers of
people who can't afford their winter power bills.
For example, a solo mother with an eleven month old baby got a power
bill for $369 for a four-week period. A low income young working couple
in a Housing NZ flat got a power bill for $400 for four weeks, and a
superannuitant living alone in his own home got a power bill for $205.
"Many families are wondering how they will pay their bills. Power bills
have been driven up by a combination of an early start to winter, with
very cold months early this year, and power bills that have risen faster
than inflation.
"There are alternatives. The state of Victoria, for example, provides
low-income households with more than $1 billion a year in concessions
for essential services. It pays a rebate to some households that reduces
the cost of LPG heating gas. In the United Kingdom, the government
provides a winter fuel payment of NZ$750 for pensioners over 60, and it
pays NZ$1200 for the over-80s.
"Today's review shows energy companies are charging too much for power
and some of those profits should be used to help very poor New Zealand
households," Jim Anderton said.