Electricity sector privatisation is destroying manufacturing industry: Op-Ed from CICTAR Researcher Ed Miller

‘Affordable energy is a prerequisite for sustaining manufacturing activity, as well as our transport, logistics, information technology and entertainment industries (to name a few).’ Writes CICTAR’s Ed Miller, on Newsroom.co.nz

‘In 2022 and 2023, First Union, the NZ Council of Trade Unions, and 350 Aotearoa released a series of reports looking at the impact of the partial privatisation of energy companies

They argued that in the decade since those privatisations, the companies involved have paid out $10.8 billion in dividends to shareholders, while total generating capacity increased by one measly percent.

We all pay the price for underinvestment…the need for a thorough rethink of the costs and benefits of electricity privatisation are becoming clear.’