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Speaker 1: The government is set to release its decision on how

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Speaker 1: to fix the energy sector sometime this month. Now, this

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Speaker 1: comes after the so called Frontier Report, which the government

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Speaker 1: commission telling it what to do to the electricity market.

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Speaker 1: That's been on the desks for a few months. I've

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Speaker 1: kept it under wraps, but rumors are swirling. Margaret Cooney

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Speaker 1: is the chief operating officer at Octopus Energy and with us.

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Speaker 2: Hey Margaret, Hi, how are you here? Well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Have you heard that this report recommends nationalizing

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Speaker 1: the thermal generation assets.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we've heard that from a number of credible sources

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Speaker 2: and it's swirling the energy nerd circles of Wellington that

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Speaker 2: this was a recommendation from Frontier.

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Speaker 1: Is that what you want?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's an interesting idea, but immediately we

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Speaker 2: need to increase supply in the sector, so just shifting

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Speaker 2: around existing assets doesn't really solve the problem. So we've

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Speaker 2: been suggesting to government that they should basically take the

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Speaker 2: broadband approach or which is an approach used in up countries,

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Speaker 2: and underwrite new investment. So you can do that by

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Speaker 2: issuing a tender, getting long term contracts the new supplied

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Speaker 2: to come into market as soon as possible, and they

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Speaker 2: should do that to match the government's own demand profile.

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Speaker 2: It would mean you'd need a mix of different types

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Speaker 2: of generation in order to give you the certainty and

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Speaker 2: confidence that that energy is there.

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Speaker 1: Government's not going to nationalize the thermal assets.

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Speaker 2: I think it's unlikely with a national government, but it

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Speaker 2: is a concept that has been floated by Frontiers. So

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Speaker 2: were yet to hear how the government's going to deal

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Speaker 2: with that report. But I think there are better solutions

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Speaker 2: there that would help us resolve the electrocyed supply crunch

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Speaker 2: that we're in and also get the market settings working

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Speaker 2: so that we have a broader group of parties that

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Speaker 2: can invest in the New Zealand market and build that

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Speaker 2: much needed new generation.

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Speaker 1: Okay, tell me what you think they're actually going to

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Speaker 1: do then? Is it the underwriting?

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Speaker 2: Look, honestly, we don't know what the government is going

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Speaker 2: to do, but what I hope that they will do

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Speaker 2: is a combination of things. So it's act on the

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Speaker 2: announcements that they've all already made about improving the market

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Speaker 2: settings so that they support competition, that's one, but immediately

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Speaker 2: put out at tender for these long term contracts so

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Speaker 2: that we get the uplift and supply that is so

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Speaker 2: urgently needed. It's really not something we can wait for.

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Speaker 2: We've got this immediate supply crunch. Really high prices have

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Speaker 2: been there since you know, twenty eighteen, and we've got

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Speaker 2: looming gas supply shortages, which mean that we immediately need

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Speaker 2: to bolsterlectricity supply so we can accommodate industry that wants

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Speaker 2: to electrify it and also reduce the electricity industries reliance

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Speaker 2: on that guest that's becoming more scarce.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, Margaret, thanks for your time. Margaret Cooney, Octopus

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Speaker 1: Energy chief operating officer might ask Chris Bishop a question

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Speaker 1: about that. I think we all agree government's not going

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Speaker 1: to do that because it's nutty to start nationalizing assets.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio