Hon Jim Anderton

Member of Parliament for Wigram
Progressive Leader

5 August 2009 Media Statement

Electricity poverty crisis

There is a crisis of electricity poverty underway in New Zealand this winter, Progressive Wigram MP Jim Anderton says.

His electorate office has been inundated with record numbers of people who can’t afford their winter power bills.

Examples include:

• A solo mother with an eleven month old baby got a power bill for $369 for a four-week period. She has a wood burner but can’t afford wood. She has a medical certificate from her GP about the respiratory condition of her baby. She lives in a Housing New Zealand home, but can’t get a heat pump or carpet to help keep the house warm. How is she supposed to pay that bill?

• A young couple in another Housing NZ home have one source of power – a wall heater. They got a power bill for $400 for four weeks. These are working people on a very low income, already struggling to pay their rent. There is paint peeling off the walls because of mould. They are on the waiting list for a heat pump, but won’t be getting it before the winter is over.

• A young solo mother with four children came to my office with a power account of $400 for four weeks. They are in a Housing New Zealand home with a log burner, and on the urgent waiting list for a heat pump.

• I had a superannuitant who came to see me, living in his own home, alone. He got a power bill for $205. If you are living on a fixed income and you get a power bill of $205 for four weeks, what are you supposed to do?

“I urge the government not to victimise these people or bash them in public for asking for help.

“What is a solo mum with four kids meant to do with a power bill of $400 for four weeks? All four children have recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections. That is what happens when you have electricity poverty. Health problems that cost much more than the power bill.

“I understand that Housing New Zealand is not even allowing energy community action to enter homes to undertake a report on insulation and heating options.

“There is no other expense that is similar to electricity bills - a seasonal spike that is an unavoidable expense, unpredictable and sometimes quite extreme in the context of a family budget;

“There are alternatives. The state of Victoria, for example, provides low-income households with more than $1 billion a year in concessions for essential services. It pays a rebate to some households that reduces the cost of LPG heating gas.

“In the United Kingdom, the government provides a winter fuel payment of NZ$750 for pensioners over 60, and it pays NZ$1200 for the over-80s.

“I believe we need some urgent intervention to help New Zealand homes. Energy prices have been rising steadily for around fifteen years. That has now combined with a very cold couple of months.

“The result is electricity poverty and real hardship for thousands of New Zealanders,” Jim Anderton said.

ENDS

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