Labour and the Greens have both lambasted National’s energy policy as a giant step backwards. Deputy PM Michael Cullen predicts under National’s policy, greenhouse gas emissions and power bills will increase. Cullen accuses National of paying lip service to renewable energy but lacking serious commitment to it. He adds it is “incomprehensible how National could release an energy policy that promotes the use of gas-fired generation without also providing details of its Emissions Trading Scheme.” Cullen says without these details, National’s policy is simply a mandate for heavier reliance on coal and gas. He is also sceptical of National’s promise to have an Emissions Trading Scheme in place within nine months of taking office.

Cullen says it would be impossible for National to draw up a new ETS in nine months, so it would either have to essentially revamp Labour’s scheme, or it has a hidden agenda with an alternative scheme already drawn up by its business cronies. Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons describes National’s energy policy as “financial madness.” Fitzsimons says the policy ignores NZ’s biggest energy problem, transport fuels and the rising cost of oil, and relies on “drill and hope.” She predicts National’s policy on gas-fired electricity generation will lead to the import of liquefied natural gas, where international contracts are linked to the price of oil. This means for the first time in NZ’s history the country will “lose control” of electricity prices and become dependent on international markets, just as it is already for petrol. Fitzsimons adds National’s proposed $1000 grant for solar water heating is something the Greens have already secured with Govt and is already operating.

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