The Green Party is questioning the million dollar plus salaries of power company chief executives as power prices soar.
“This is further evidence that the current system is broken, the electricity market needs an overhaul to make sure it works for consumers not the companies, said Green Party spokesperson Gareth Hughes.
Four out of the five power companies pay their CEO’s over a million dollars.
“While a quarter of Kiwis households are classified as being in energy poverty and spending more than 12% of their income just to keep warm, power prices continue to rise it is incredible power companies are paying out super salaries, said Mr Hughes.
“Every power bill that households pay is higher because of the super profits that the companies are making, and the excessive amount they are paying their CEOs and management.
Years of excessive super profits in electricity have led to Kiwis paying more of their power bills in super salaries.
The electricity market is uncompetitive – the companies are charging cheap hydro power at the same rate as the most expensive power this combined with continual pure asset revaluations leading to super-profit the CEOs are taking out super-sized salaries, added Mr Hughes.
“The National Party needs to explain why they are putting profits for shareholders ahead of affordable electricity for all New Zealanders. They are doing a lot of scare mongering to try and protect the status quo but this question remains unanswered.
The Green Party plan to bring down power prices is available at http://www.greens.org.nz/energy.
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