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Speaker 1: So what to make of the so called power crisis? Right,

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Speaker 1: Mike Fhusch about this time yesterday on the program Contact Energy,

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Speaker 1: gave an eloquent defense of the power industry. He said, look,

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Speaker 1: it works fine. Yes, we're in a period of transition.

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Speaker 1: The investment is being made. It will work out well

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Speaker 1: in the end. Now tell that to the mills who

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Speaker 1: have so far closed or stopped and the workers who

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Speaker 1: were waiting to hear whether they've got jobs. Tell that

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Speaker 1: to the businesses paying double what they did last year

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Speaker 1: for power. Tell that to the farming sector, the likes

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Speaker 1: of Fontira, who now say this affects our export competitiveness.

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Speaker 1: They claim they've been arguing for industry reform for ages.

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Speaker 1: Now An's co are into meet they're paying twice what

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Speaker 1: they were last year, and you know who that gets

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Speaker 1: passed on to. Meantime, the government looking at LNG Contact

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Speaker 1: yesterday claimed on this program an announcement was coming on

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Speaker 1: gas soon. Well, let's hope that's good. And at some

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Speaker 1: point we may or may not hear from the ComCom

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Speaker 1: or the electricity Authority. Although if you followed the various

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Speaker 1: scraps of late over things like petrol and building supplies

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Speaker 1: and supermarkets or banks. When the likes of authorities get involved,

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Speaker 1: it appears to be more headlined noise than actual change.

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Speaker 1: The big picture is the key here. If we can't

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Speaker 1: make enough power now, even with the arrival of the

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Speaker 1: new staff, the goo, the wind, the solar, where do

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Speaker 1: the evs fit in the data centers? The AI power,

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Speaker 1: whether at a crisis point or not, is too expensive

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Speaker 1: in this country, and not just too expensive, but clearly unreliable.

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Speaker 1: See three main things drive the industry. Currently we've got

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Speaker 1: the rain and we don't have enough of that. We've

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Speaker 1: got gas while we stop looking, so the current reserves

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Speaker 1: are running out in the wind, it's not blowing. So

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Speaker 1: three good options on paper in reality that don't work.

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Speaker 1: So the industry says, don't panic. The user says, it's

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Speaker 1: a crisis. Our exports are being hit. So this it

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Speaker 1: seems to me as a bit of a job for

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Speaker 1: the government. Jawbony which they've done to this point hasn't

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Speaker 1: and isn't working. Leaving it to the market isn't working.

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Speaker 1: See if you don't have power your third world. We

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Speaker 1: look currently pretty third world. For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio