Editorial: Power to the people

OPINION: From any perspective, it is bizarre that more than 50,000 power consumers in Auckland and Northland should be held to ransom by one stroppy cockie – if, indeed, this was the main factor in Monday's damaging and costly power cut.

Transpower demanded a police escort on to Waikato farmer Steve Meier's land in order to repair major transmission lines following a fire in trees beneath them.

Chief executive Patrick Strange describes Mr Meier as "the most difficult person in the country to deal with".

For his part, Mr Meier has been waging a five-year battle to get Transpower to pay an easement fee for the pylons on his land.

He also says he has been warning the state-owned enterprise for years about the potential risk to the lines.

By his manner, words and actions, Mr Meier is an excitable chap and the sort who rarely backs down on anything. However, there is merit in his cause.

Whatever the legal niceties and agreements drawn up when and since the state electricity sector was carved up, the various companies – state-owned or private – are supposed to be run as businesses, under the usual commercial imperatives.

That should include a clear obligation to pay – whether it is regarded as compensation, lease, rental or some other fee – for the use of private land for pylons. The quid pro quo ought to be reasonable access, such as for maintenance – in other words, a normal owner-lessee relationship.

When other private land is required for the public good – for roading, schools, sportsgrounds or whatever – compensation is paid.

Most often an appropriate and fair deal is reached through negotiation.

It should not be too difficult to set up a market-rate-based formula for recompensing private owners when the use of their land is required for crucial infrastructure.

Where land is leased rather than bought, regular rental reviews should be involved.

Equally, a case could be made for establishing a compensation formula to apply when a contracted service cannot be delivered.

Regarding this week's power cut, Transpower has said it is "not its policy" to provide such redress and network distributor Vector has also ruled it out.

That the various power companies can be so cavalier about their policies and responsibilities is yet another reminder of the failure of the electricity reforms to create a truly competitive model for this critical service industry.

The sector can hardly claim poverty.

Auckland Mayor John Banks was seething – much hotter and he might just about have been capable of feeding the national grid. Though he switched on to full campaign mode last year in his bid to become the first super-city leader and will grab the spotlight at every opportunity, his anger was justified. New Zealand deserves a more reliable infrastructure.

We have the natural resources for sufficient energy generation – we just have not settled on the best planning and operating structure.

There is little incentive to build new plants or make greater use of alternative energy generation systems until they become cost-efficient.

In other words, the average price of producing power will need to become higher before new spending on infrastructure is viable.

Even Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee seems powerless to alter that, for all his bluster about reining in prices.

- © Fairfax NZ News