Farmer Steve Meier blames Transpower for yesterday's power cuts, saying he warned five years ago that a fire would happen - but Transpwer says Mr Meier is the most difficult person in NZ to deal with.

The Government is confident its shakeup of the electricity market will slow increases in power prices ... but it is making no promises about them coming down.

Transpower is contemplating a domestic bond issue of around $200m early next year as it gears up for $5 billion of capital expenditure on national grid upgrades over the next decade.