The government will be keen to see Mighty River Power shares trade at a premium to its $2.50 issue price when it lists on the NZX today, fund managers say.

The high number of first-time sharemarket investors buying into Mighty River Power bodes well for the capital markets, says the New Zealand Shareholders Association.

Editorial: Naturally enough, the Government was keen to put the entire blame for what happened on "politicking" by Labour and the Greens.

The Government has secured a mid-range price for its sale of Mighty River Power shares but just one in four of those who pre-registered ended up buying shares.

Solid Energy chairman Mark Ford says the struggling energy group - which is to cut another 105 jobs - is a "very different company'' to what it was a year ago.

Solid Energy has confirmed it will shed 105 jobs as it restructures in a bid to stay viable.

The Grey Power-led petition to force a referendum on the Government’s partial asset sales policy has failed because it did not have enough signatures.

Z Energy's second full year of operation since its sale to local investors by Shell has produced a 13.1 per cent lift in operating earnings, although sales have fallen.

New Zealand's leading business lobby groups say the Labour Party and the Greens have "ambushed" businesses with their controversial electricity policy which they claim sets a "disturbing precedent" for further intervention.

Labour and the Greens have defended their controversial electricity policy after New Zealand's business leaders issued an open letter asking them to withdraw it.

If Meridian Energy had already floated, it's a fair bet that its share price would have dropped after the Opposition unveiled its electricity policy a week ago.

A broking firm says a 10 per cent reduction in power prices could be achieved in the current electricity market - meaning the Labour-Greens proposal is unnecessary.

A protest which halted a mining giant's oil exploration on NZ's high seas and prompted a controversial law change cost taxpayers nearly $1.7 million, documents show.

The war of words over the Opposition's electricity market reform plan has flared again as political opponents traded fire over the plan's economic impact.

Mighty River Power expects it would take at least five years for the Labour and Green party's new electricity policies to be enacted, and John Key says it won't happen.

Labour's proposed shake-up of the energy sector could slash up to 20 per cent off the value of Mighty River Power although analysts rate the chances of the Opposition's plan going ahead at less than 50 per cent.

Political commentators have been quick to point out that New Zealand voters now have a real choice, writes Liam Dann. Sometimes it seems we have two poor choices.

Matt McCarten looks at the plans of Labour and the Greens to set up an electricity agency, NZ Power, if they are elected next year.

Millions of dollars of NZers' savings have been wiped after Labour and the Greens announced plans to reform the wholesale electricity market, the Government says.