Power control bill passes first stage - with doubts

Legislation that would give the Government greater power to regulate electricity companies has passed its first parliamentary hurdle.

The legislation was hatched after the death of mother of four Folole Muliaga in May, hours after Mercury Energy cut power to her South Auckland home - and the oxygen machine she was using.

The Electricity (Disconnection and Low Fixed Charges) Bill gives the Government greater powers to regulate power companies' disconnection arrangements.

It also raises the threshold for low fixed charges eligibility from 8000 kWh a year to 9000 kWh for domestic consumers in Christchurch and south of the city.

A low fixed-charge plan can lower power bills for households that use little power.

The bill passed its first reading unanimously, but some MPs questioned its effectiveness.

United Future leader Peter Dunne said the bill did so little there was no reason to vote against it.

But he said more effort should be put into making district health boards tell power companies when they provided patients with potentially life-saving equipment to use at home, so the companies would not disconnect them.

National MP Jo Goodhew said the raising of the thresholds for low fixed charge eligibility would save people only $20 a year.

That would help poor households little when power prices in the South Island had risen by an average of 48 per cent in the past five years.

- NZPA