KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark has called for Mercury Energy to "'fess up" and stop making excuses as the fallout continues over the death of Folole Muliaga, who died soon after the power was disconnected to her home.
Yesterday, Helen Clark visited the family of Mrs Muliaga and said
Mercury Energy's claim that it did nothing wrong was "just ridiculous".
She said Mercury Energy and the contractor bore responsibility for cutting off the power to the Mangere home on Tuesday where Mrs Muliaga, 44, was hooked up to an oxygen machine. She died less than three hours later.
"When I saw the letter from Mercury Energy which stated bluntly that the contractor had seen the lady with the medical tube in her nose and still gone ahead and disconnected, I couldn't believe that a human being could do that."
Helen Clark has also called for urgent advice on toughening up the regulations that cover the electricity industry, saying voluntary guidelines and protocols based on "goodwill" were clearly not working.
Mercury Energy had a "hard-nosed commercial attitude and, frankly, I don't want to be responsible for a state-owned enterprise that makes money out of misery".
A police investigation into the case is due next week. Counties Manukau police said the team was making good progress and asked for patience, saying "the speculation surrounding this case is unhelpful".
Helen Clark said people must be held accountable and told Mercury Energy to stop "making excuses".
"My advice to Mercury Energy is, stop digging. The public is outraged by what has happened. These excuses just aren't going to wash. 'Fess up, say you made a mistake, your contractor has made a mistake and try and repair the damage."
The Prime Minister said bills sent to the Muliaga household seemed ambiguous and one easy interpretation of their most recent bill - for $168.40 - was that they had until June 13 to pay the outstanding amount.
The Government and Electricity Commission had introduced guidelines to cover situations where people could not pay and the Ministry of Social Development had provided a protocol to power companies.
"It's impossible to see where either the spirit or the letter of this was observed ... and that's why the Government is now looking at regulations. If people aren't going to act in the spirit of guidelines and protocols which are voluntary, then a harder hand has to come down.
"A tragedy like this makes us think we may need a stronger approach."
Helen Clark said it was "unbelievable" that Mercury Energy made about 150 disconnections a day and blamed its hard-nosed commercialism on National Party reforms in the 1990s.
She defended her Government, saying there had never been a similar incident and it had introduced the guidelines for power companies to consider in such cases.
Labour MP Judith Tizard said when she was on the Auckland Electric Power Board from 1977-1983, it had a no-disconnections policy in cases when people genuinely could not afford to pay the bill.
She said power was only disconnected if people had the means to pay but refused to do so.
