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Speaker 1: Right now. If you've been hit by some shock power

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Speaker 1: bills this winter, you're not alone, and the Electricity Authority

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Speaker 1: is promising to change that for you. Larger power companies

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Speaker 1: are going to be forced to offer time of use

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Speaker 1: plans that make it cheaper to use power during off

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Speaker 1: peak times. Not all companies offer this at the moment,

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Speaker 1: they would be forced to. Plus, they would also be

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Speaker 1: forced to pay a fairer return for people. If you've

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Speaker 1: got solar panels and you feedback into the grid during

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Speaker 1: a peak time and a comonic, is the chair of

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Speaker 1: the Electricity Authority with me tonight? Hello?

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Speaker 2: Hello?

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Speaker 1: Is this tinkering around the edges? This stuff?

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Speaker 2: Look, there's no silver bullets for the electricity getting affordability

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Speaker 2: into the electricity sector. What we've announced today is really

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Speaker 2: important for consumers. What we're announcing as market changes that

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Speaker 2: will support cheap, cheaper off peak power and fair awards

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Speaker 2: for solar and battery users. Those are really important for

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Speaker 2: the future of the electricity sector. They basically make sure

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Speaker 2: that cheap off peak power make sure that most New

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Speaker 2: Zealand households can access the pricing plan that gives them

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Speaker 2: a cheaper rate for electricity use during off peak hours.

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Speaker 2: At the moment, only about ten percent of households, or

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Speaker 2: about two hundred and twenty thousand homes, are currently on

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Speaker 2: a time of Youth plans. And so we estimate that

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Speaker 2: the savings for a typical household from the changes that

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Speaker 2: we're putting in place today are actually sort of between

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Speaker 2: eighty two one hundred and eighty dollars a year, depending

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Speaker 2: on the circumstances.

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Speaker 1: Is this going to be and that includes the solar

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Speaker 1: changes or just the time.

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Speaker 2: Includes sol that include solar changes.

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Speaker 1: Well, how much of it is the solar versus the time.

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Speaker 2: Of use what does depend on the circumstances of the

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Speaker 2: individual household. But you know, for those of people who

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Speaker 2: are looking to actually move their power usage off peak,

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Speaker 2: then the changes we're making today will be significant. For

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Speaker 2: those who have been able to invest in solar and battery,

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Speaker 2: that is a significant incentive for them to actually reward

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Speaker 2: or to benefit the rest of consumers by actually feeding

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Speaker 2: back into the grid. And you know, it's to be

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Speaker 2: what we need to be really clear about is that

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Speaker 2: you know, even for those who have not got solar

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Speaker 2: and battery, we all benefit if consumers are actually feeding

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Speaker 2: back into private is jumping back into it.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be rich, really rich people who have

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Speaker 1: got solar and can afford it.

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Speaker 2: Right, Well, the return on investments for solar and battery

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Speaker 2: is increasing a year on year if you talk to

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Speaker 2: you know, those who are actually coming out, and we've

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Speaker 2: got some banks who are now providing our low interest

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Speaker 2: or zero interest loans to actually put on solar and battery.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we expect the uptake of solar and

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Speaker 2: battery to increase, and particularly with evs as well.

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Speaker 1: And are coming back to time of use. You said

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Speaker 1: the book it could save eighty two one hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty a year. What it will be significant how many

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Speaker 1: people will actually do that because there are power companies

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Speaker 1: out there already that offer time of use charges. So

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Speaker 1: if people wanted it, wouldn't they be going there already. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, so last year we surveys surveyed are electricity retailers

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Speaker 2: and found that none of the six largest electricity retailers

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Speaker 2: were offering time of use plans to all the customers.

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Speaker 2: So that represents a pretty huge number of New Zealanders

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Speaker 2: who didn't have that option. There are retailers who provide

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Speaker 2: time of use now and some of those RETAPO retailers

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Speaker 2: are moving too quickly to provide time of use. We

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Speaker 2: want to see that across the board. We want to

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Speaker 2: see consumers with that option. Of course it's not going

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Speaker 2: to you know, it benefits everybody, will not be right

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Speaker 2: for everybody, but we should have that choice in the market,

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Speaker 2: and it's a real missing that we haven't had it.

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Speaker 1: Is this your first strike? I mean, is there more

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Speaker 1: substantial changes for the sector to come?

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Speaker 2: We have got a whole program of reforms that are

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Speaker 2: rolling out. It's a focused program basically to simplify, standardize,

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Speaker 2: and get more transparency in the market. So some of

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Speaker 2: the things that we're working on at the moment unlocking

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Speaker 2: better access to real time energy data so you and

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Speaker 2: I can make better decisions about how we're using our energy,

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Speaker 2: but also launching a new comparison and twitching tool that

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Speaker 2: makes it much easier for people to find the best

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Speaker 2: deal and make sure that the information that we're getting

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Speaker 2: about our energy use is simple and easy to understand.

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Speaker 1: All right, and I appreciate your time, Good luck with

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Speaker 1: your mission and a common Chair of the Electricity Authority.

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Speaker 1: For more from Heather Douplassy Allen Drive listen live to

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Speaker 1: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio