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Speaker 1: Ever do for the Ellen.

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Speaker 2: Back to the government's just announced energy package, Cabinet has

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Speaker 2: decided to fast track consents for an LNG storage facility

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Speaker 2: and then also overturn the oil and gas exploration ban

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Speaker 2: in a hurry by the end of this year. Energy

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Speaker 2: Minister Simeon Brown is with me right now.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Simon, good evening.

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Speaker 2: You're also planning to do a review of the electricity market. Now,

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Speaker 2: is this basically a market study?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not a market study, but it's ensuring that

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Speaker 1: the market settings are right for the changes that we're seeing,

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Speaker 1: which is obviously the reduction and gas supply but also

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Speaker 1: increasing intermittent resources, and to make sure that the regulators,

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Speaker 1: the Altriusty Authority and ComCom have the tools they need

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Speaker 1: to be able to make changes to keep it competitive,

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Speaker 1: affordable and secure.

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Speaker 2: Are you looking at whether they're profiteering or not.

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Speaker 1: Well, ultimately what we want is more competition. That's the

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Speaker 1: way to ensure that we're not seeing excess profits. The

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Speaker 1: EA is also going to be ensuring that more regular

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Speaker 1: reporting of margins are in place. But we don't have

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Speaker 1: enough supply and we don't give it.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I get the problem, but your mate Martaa.

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Speaker 2: Shane has come out and said that these guys, the

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Speaker 2: gentailers are profiteering. Are you now going to answer that

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Speaker 2: question with the study?

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Speaker 1: What we're going to be doing is looking at the

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Speaker 1: market settings to make sure that EA in the ComCom

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Speaker 1: have the tools.

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Speaker 2: That sounds no, that's in no way you're not looking

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Speaker 2: at whether they're profiteering.

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Speaker 1: Well, we are looking at as a separate piece of

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Speaker 1: work they are already undertaking to ensure that there isn't

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Speaker 1: price gouging happening. I share Shane Jones' concerns. I share

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Speaker 1: his concerns around excessive prices and the impact that they're having.

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Speaker 2: So are you saying because the EA is already looking

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Speaker 2: into it, it doesn't need to be looked into.

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Speaker 1: Again, Well, they need to do that job to ensure

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Speaker 1: that the current what's happening right now, with the high

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Speaker 1: prices we're facing, we're not seeing We don't want us

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Speaker 1: to be seeing price gouging. But I also want to

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Speaker 1: make sure that they have the tools to enable a

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Speaker 1: more competitive market because competition ensures that we don't see

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Speaker 1: price gouging. Competition means we get more generation, Competition means

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Speaker 1: we have more supply and competition is good for consuming.

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Speaker 2: So the competition, the competition aspect is that you allowing

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Speaker 2: the lines companies to be able to build more generation.

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Speaker 2: Would that increase the competition?

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Speaker 1: That is absolutely one of the one of the elements.

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Speaker 1: And also about resilience because you go into some of

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Speaker 1: the more remote parts of the country where it's Northland, Corimandel,

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Speaker 1: the West Coast, the transmission costs to put new transmission

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Speaker 1: lines in is incredibly expensive and so having more resilience

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Speaker 1: by having more generation onto those lines companies' assets helps

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Speaker 1: to make it helps to reduce the cost of more

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Speaker 1: generation as well. So that part of increasing competition but

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Speaker 1: also increasing resilience.

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Speaker 2: Who's going to build the LNG facility. Who's interested?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's been significant interests from a range of parties.

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Speaker 1: Some of those parties obviously already own assets in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: The Gas Industry Company, which is the body which regulates

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Speaker 1: the gas market in New Zealand, they are going to

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Speaker 1: be coordinating that work. Our job is to get rid

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Speaker 1: of all of the regulatory barriers as quickly as we

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Speaker 1: can and give confidence for those investors to be able

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Speaker 1: to come and invest in that infrastructure. So we can

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Speaker 1: get that gas into New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: How quickly can you do it?

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Speaker 1: Well, the advice I've received, our expectation is the latest

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Speaker 1: is winter twenty twenty six. That's the latest the advices

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Speaker 1: there are options to do that faster.

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Speaker 2: Saying that, are you saying you're only going to be

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Speaker 2: able to issue the consent and winter twenty six?

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Speaker 1: Oh no, no, that is the latest to actually have

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Speaker 1: that gas flowing into New Zealand. In terms of the consent,

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Speaker 1: we're said, we're going to put specific legislation to Parliament

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Speaker 1: to legislate that consent because we want to give absolute

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Speaker 1: certainty that this government will remove those regulatory barriers so

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Speaker 1: that those investment decisions can be made as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 2: So, men, how much more expensive is alan G flowing

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Speaker 2: through my pipe than the indigenous gas I've got at

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Speaker 2: the moment?

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Speaker 1: Well, the spot price for your indigenous gas and then

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Speaker 1: going to market it's over fifty dollars a giga duel

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Speaker 1: and LNG's between seventeen and twenty one. So it's acually

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Speaker 1: cheap to bring an LNGS into the spot market in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand, but typically New Zealand guests is cheaper than

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Speaker 1: L and G, so ultimately this is about making sure

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Speaker 1: we've got the supply and that price will ultimately determine

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Speaker 1: where it's coming from.

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Speaker 2: Okay, hey, thank you, Simin, really appreciate your time. That

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Speaker 2: Simmy and Brown the Energy Minister. For more from Heather

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Speaker 2: Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be

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Speaker 2: from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio