Buller spared 427% electricity jolt — for now
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A stay on a 427% increase in electricity transmission charges for over 4800 Buller consumers was welcomed today by the mayor.
Early this month Buller Electricity Ltd, owned by the Buller Electricity Power Trust, mounted a legal challenge against national grid operator Transpower, which proposed increasing transmission charges by 427%.
The increase was due to take effect from April 1.
Today, Buller Electricity announced that following court action an interim arrangement had been reached "pausing any increases".
This would be until the judicial review application was resolved, it said.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine said given Westport's relative isolation and low population the stay was what might be hoped for in the circumstances.
"Buller is at the end of a pretty long line in terms of supply. Those charges passed on by the lines companies have a pretty powerful impact," Cleine said.
This was against a background of "an uncompetitive" market, natural disaster, and the loss of the district's single biggest electricity customer, Holcim Cement, which closed in 2016.
Cleine said he understood that loss to Transpower was to have been passed on to the rest of Buller power consumers, at a time when the district was significantly challenged after the flood recovery.
"That was my understanding, they effectively had to distribute that share of the line cost to all of the other connections on the network - quite unhelpful.
"It's a pity it has to go to court action before that can be brought to the table -- a good outcome before it is eventually resolved."
Buller Electricity director Shannon Hollis said today the interim arrangement was the first hurdle in a process.
"For us it's the very first step in the process; it's what we were hoping to achieve."
The company was awaiting a formal hearing date in May.
Under the interim arrangement, Buller Electricity will be reducing the transmission price increases previously notified to energy retailers, such as Genesis, Pulse Energy and Contact Energy.
"We recognise this is not an ideal situation for [energy] retailers, some of whom may have already communicated the increased prices to their customers," Hollis said.
However, the overriding concern for Buller Electricity was avoiding "significant hardship" for local residents and businesses, caused by the massive transmission charge signalled by Transpower.
The effect of the interim agreement was to provide "much needed relief" for local consumers for the time being, until a court determination.
One of the terms of the interim agreement was that the parties would seek a fixture as soon as possible so the legality of Transpower's proposed reclassification of lines assets could be determined by the courts without delay.
The increase notified by Transpower in December largely reflected a change to the way it classified national grid assets in Buller.
Hollis said the impact was "particularly harsh" given the small population of about 4850 end-consumers.
Poll: Do you think banning gang patches is reasonable?
With the government cracking down on gangs, it is now illegal for gang members to display their insignia in public places whether through clothing or their property.
This means arrests can be made if these patches are worn in places like restaurants, shops, on public transport or ferries, and on airplanes. Arrests were made recently at a funeral.
Do you think this ban is reasonable?
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76.3% Yes
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22.4% No
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1.3% Other - I'll share below
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
West Coast council accepts Franz Josef loan offer
By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
The West Coast Regional Council has voted to take up the government’s offer to co-fund a second round of flood protection at Franz Josef.
The decision follows a fractious meeting in the tourist town on Wednesday night, with local ratepayers agonising over how to pay for the work, and insisting they authorise what the council builds and spends.
Scientists and engineers have warned the community is at high to critical risk from the wild Waiho (Waiau) River unless urgent work is done to top up and rebuild damaged stopbanks, as a stop gap measure.
At a brief extraordinary Council meeting in Greymouth on Friday, chairperson Peter Haddock moved the council accept the offer of funding, up to a value of $7.9 million.
The government’s original offer was for $10m, as a 60/40 split: a grant of $6m and a loan of $4m to Waiho ratepayers.
But that included the cost of strengthening the massive flood banks built to protect State Highway 6, and the council excluded that component after Franz Josef objected to funding a Crown asset.
The council vote to accept the funding was all but unanimous: rebel councillor Allan Birchfield was the sole dissenting voice, saying he had no confidence in the council to honestly and fairly administer the money, and the council was not trusted by the community.
“And I don’t have the confidence in you, Peter - so I’m voting against it.”
Haddock said the criticism was unfair.
He said he had been to five meetings with Franz Josef ratepayers to try to rebuild trust and apologise to them for the way they were treated by the council previously, when Birchfield was the chairperson.
“The previous council had no meetings with them for over five years, very poor financial paperwork … I’ve been through the minutes and I see you don’t appear in most of them, the previous money was lost back to the government and I’m afraid that lies with you Allan [Birchfield].”
Councillor Brett Cummings, who was a member of the Waiho ratepayers joint committee, reminded Birchfield that only two people at the Franz Josef meeting had opposed accepting the funding and loan.
“I feel quite confident, Allan, that the community group down there has quite a lot of control on how and where the money’s being spent - their money.”
Councillor Peter Ewen said he wanted to acknowledge the Franz Josef community, and the angst it had gone through over the decision.
“I agree with them over not taking the $10 million ... [but] this is ensuring the Insurance Council does not walk away from the situation. We are helping ourselves, and I’m sure the council with its best endeavours and professional river staff will adhere to the wishes of the community down there.”
If nature played its part, the Franz Josef community would now gain the time to come up with a final plan for its future, which was the purpose of the funding, Ewen said.
Birchfield asked engineer Scott Hoare why it was planning to tear down and rebuild the Milton stopbank on the sourh side, saying he had been there when it was built and it was well “found”.
Hoare said the bank would not be torn down, but was slumping in places and the rocks would be taken out and restacked.
Councillor Frank Dooley said he had every confidence in Haddock as council chairperson.
“I really appreciate the work you’ve done to bring this organisation to the position it’s now in ... the West Coast community can only benefit through your leadership.”
The regional council had until Monday to tell the government if it would accept the funding for Franz Josef and that would now happen, Haddock said after the meeting.
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