The Government will loan households up to $15,000 at low interest rates to help them install solar power if the Greens are elected.

Prime Minister John Key has defended his Government's $30 million payout to the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter after the Greens and Labour said parent company Rio Tinto's US$3.7 billion profit showed the payment was unjustified.

Profits are up 10pc at world mining giant Rio Tinto - in a year where NZ taxpayers paid the company $30m to keep the Tiwai Pt smelter open.

Opposition's single-buyer model misses target, Business NZ-sponsored probe finds.

In the socialist state of Venezuela that is home to the world's largest oil and gas reserves, petrol is cheaper than water. But not for much longer.

Feel you're paying too much for electricity? Not according to a new report, which says consumers never actually paid the full cost of building NZ's power stations.

A ''rapid response'' team of up to 260 people has been set up to take to the water to hinder Anadarko's deep-sea drilling operations.

Global demand for solar panels is expected to hit a three-year high this year and a local company says falling prices are set to spark "explosive growth in solar energy"".

Texan oil giant Anadarko's environmental credentials and the future of its New Zealand offshore exploration programme are being questioned as the company faces a US toxic site cleanup and compensation claim which could reach US$14 billion ($16.9 billion).

Greenpeace has opened its case against the Environmental Protection Agency and Texan oil giant Anadarko in the High Court at Wellington.

Indigestion triggered by the size of the Govt's power company floats and investors wanting to take profits are being blamed for a fall in NZ's benchmark index.

NZ lighting technology has saved the Countdown supermarket chain's owner almost $500,000 a year in energy costs in two of its buildings.

Investors who took up shares in newly listed Mighty River Power and Meridian will take little comfort from PwC's latest report on the electricity sector.

The Environmental Protection Agency is confident of defending their decision to allow off-shore oil drilling in the Taranaki basin, Prime Minister John Key said today.

The offshore protest against Anadarko's deep sea oil exploration will come to an end today as Greenpeace takes the battle to court.

Deep sea exploration oil drilling off the Waikato coast by Texas-based oil company Anadarko began early today.

Jack Johnson isn’t your typical rock star – he breaks the mould in terms of how the well-off behave.

Veteran New Zealand oilman Rob Jager says he can understand concern over deep water drilling off New Zealand's coast.

Voting begins today in a citizens-initiated referendum on whether the Government should sell part of its stake in power companies and Air New Zealand.