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Speaker 1: Now Transpower. Transpower wants to replace the cook straight power

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Speaker 1: cables that link the North and South Island. But here's

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Speaker 1: the thing that comes with the huge price tag one

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Speaker 1: point four billion dollars and if the Commerce Commission approves this,

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Speaker 1: the cost will be passed on to us the customers.

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Speaker 1: James Kilty is the new chief executive of Transpower.

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Speaker 2: Hey James, hello, how are you very well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? Now, James, I thought that this thing was

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Speaker 1: going to cost about four hundred and fifty million, So

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Speaker 1: why has it gone up so much in price?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, talking about two different numbers there, Heather. So the

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Speaker 2: four hundred and fifty million was given to be very

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Speaker 2: transparent free Christmas around the estimated cost for the cable

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Speaker 2: portion of the project. The project includes at the one

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Speaker 2: point four billion we're talking about today, which is a

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Speaker 2: lot of money. I know. It includes the cables, but

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Speaker 2: also all of the associated works which are a lot

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Speaker 2: around the rest of the projects. There's about five or

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Speaker 2: six projects included in that in that scope, Heather. It's

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Speaker 2: all laid out in our consultation document including the costs,

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Speaker 2: so people can can have a look at that.

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Speaker 1: So what do we get for one point four billion.

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Speaker 2: Well, you get a continuation the sort of two elements.

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Speaker 2: You get a continuation of the ability to move electricity

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Speaker 2: between the two islands for another forty years. The current cables,

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Speaker 2: there's three cables actually, Heather, coming to the end of

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Speaker 2: their life. They and the associated works, they are all

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Speaker 2: coming to the end of their life and we need

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Speaker 2: to replace those. That is the vast majority of the cost.

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Speaker 2: We're also suggesting that we add one more cable, a

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Speaker 2: fourth cable. And remember these are the cables that offer

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Speaker 2: access to the very best resources around the country to

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Speaker 2: supply electricity at the most affordable, reliable and secure way

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Speaker 2: to customers across New Zealand. And that's what this investment

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand's future is all about. It's another forty

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Speaker 2: year investment and we're suggesting that, planning for the future,

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Speaker 2: we should add a fourth cable to add additional resilience

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Speaker 2: and capacity between the islands.

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Speaker 1: Right, So, if you get the approval from the com Com,

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Speaker 1: how much is it going to cost me?

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Speaker 2: You won't see anything for a number of years because

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Speaker 2: it will be delivered. We have to book. These things

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Speaker 2: are in such demand internationally, Heather, that we'll book. We've

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Speaker 2: booked apart and cruise and everything, but you won't see

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Speaker 2: it built until twenty thirty and twenty thirty one. After that,

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Speaker 2: over the forty year life of the asset, you'll see

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Speaker 2: a small cost in your bill at home associated with

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Speaker 2: this project. Do you cover it over forty years? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: You spread it out over forty years.

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Speaker 2: Do you yeah? Yes? The Communist Comission regulation of US

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Speaker 2: ensures that all our costs are covered over the life

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Speaker 2: of the asset. And this is a forty year asset. Hey,

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Speaker 2: maybe it's forty five. We'll you know, we'll be working

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Speaker 2: very hard to make sure it delivers securely for the

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Speaker 2: long term.

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Speaker 1: Can you say small? What do you mean?

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Speaker 2: Very hard to put a number on it? To be

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Speaker 2: a few dollars, a few dollars a year. By the

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Speaker 2: time it's spread across every connection in the country and

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Speaker 2: spread over forty years, it'll be a reasonably small amount. Remember,

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Speaker 2: your transmission costs are about eight percent of your electricity bill.

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Speaker 2: That's our costs, and we expect that out that proportion,

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Speaker 2: that eight percent proportion of your electricity bill for transmission

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Speaker 2: will remain pretty stable through this project.

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Speaker 1: James Listen, thanks very much for your time, appreciated the

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Speaker 1: James Keilty, the chief executive of Transpower, For more from

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Speaker 1: Hither Duplessy Allen Drive Listen live to news talks.

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