For every dollar the four gentailers invested in renewables, $2.41 was paid out to shareholders. In other words, rather than invest in alternatives to burning fossil fuels to keep the lights on, the power companies have chosen to pay out their shareholders. Still more mind-blowing, in 2023 alone, they distributed dividends of $1.1 billion off only $521 million in net profit after tax, meaning they handed out an excess dividend of $638m.
Structurally, the big power companies are perversely incentivised to keep burning coal and gas, because this helps to keep prices high. They have invested to increase renewable generation by the tiniest amount, when the OECD and multiple inquiries have recommended doubling it. Why wouldn’t they? After all, the coalition Government continues to beat the drum of profit before all else.
This power crisis is a clear case where we can fix the system and achieve better outcomes for most people and protect the scientific non-negotiables for life on Earth. But no, the Government argues, we must double down on this fundamentally unfair market that actively sees wealth syphoned to shareholders at the cost of everything else.
But wait, look over there, Shane Jones is making his latest outrageous, headline-grabbing statement about native, endangered animals getting in the way of what he calls progress. Or over there, where David Seymour is drumming up a fight we never knew we needed to have on whatever ‘woke food’ is. Or over there, where Winston Peters has announced it’s critical we check everyone’s genitalia before they enter a bathroom.
The emergency culture war button remains at hand to help the co-deputy prime ministers clamber into frame whenever they feel a little lacking of the spotlight. Forget about hungry kids and intentional destruction of our environment. Better to be focused on fighting each other and losing sight of what really matters, according to the governing parties.
The Prime Minister and his Minister of Finance also continue to tell us that they’re making ‘hard choices’, but it’s more accurate to call them cruel choices. Like choosing a $2.9b hand-out for landlords which the Reserve Bank tells us will push up house prices, while chopping half-price public transport, free prescriptions, property manager regulations, and handily shredding Inland Revenue’s reporting requirements on the fairness of our tax system.
The Government is saying there’ll be more misery before things get ‘back on track’. What they’re not saying is that they’ve decided to inflict this suffering, because they don’t want to fix the fundamentals of our economy which generate inequality and squanders productivity by privileging wealth over work. What they’re not saying is that these decisions drive intergenerational poverty and make our work to stabilise the climate so very much harder.
Meanwhile, far too many families are forced to make the impossible choice between heating their homes or putting decent food on the table.
We deserve better. We deserve a government that implements values and evidence to drive down power bills while also reducing climate pollution. One that supports people to upgrade their homes to be warmer and more energy efficient, so that we don’t need to generate as much electricity in the first place.
Imagine if the Government had responded to last week’s power crisis by announcing it was going to equip every state house with solar panels and batteries, to store the sun’s energy for cold mornings and take pressure off the grid.
Imagine if the Government had stared down the power companies and told them that if they don’t reinvest their profits in new wind farms and other clean electricity generation, their profits would be taxed and the Government would use that money to build its own.
Historically, when things have been bad like this, people have looked around and realised that the issues we’re all facing are shared. The issue is not each other, but an unfair system designed to make change seem too hard.
This is the modus operandi of this government. They are using this system as best they can to have you think change is impossible. They will belittle and patronise anything that challenges their worldview.
This government may not have the determination, creativity or technical ability to imagine a better future where we don’t have to choose between burning coal or the lights going out, but I know that our communities do.
Now, more than ever, do not leave politics to the politicians to get away with terrible decisions.
It’s time to belong to something to believe in - whether that’s an NGO, political party or union. It’s time to work together to remake the rules of this system. They were made up and they can be re-made.
- Chlöe Swarbrick is the Green Party co-leader and MP for Auckland Central.
