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Molly Melhuish - Latest News [Page 1]
Power Cuts Could Happen Again
Tuesday, 10 August 2021, 9:29 am | Molly Melhuish
Yesterday’s power cuts could have been prevented because the extreme cold weather had been well signalled days in advance by the Met Service. They could happen again this winter. All the New Zealand-wide crises since 1992 were caused ... More >>
Here´s A Virus. Practice.
Wednesday, 23 December 2020, 10:22 am | Molly Melhuish
New Zealand’s electricity market is broken. Its regulator chose Christmas week to reveal it will consult further on whether to slap Meridian with a wet bus ticket. At the same time, the industry’s plan for a return to growth, funded by a $2/day ... More >>
Massive Corporate Solar Projects Proposed - Predatory Against Rooftop Solar Investment
Friday, 18 December 2020, 5:18 pm | Molly Melhuish
A new report for MBIE[i] outlines the “economics” of massive growth of utility-scale solar – suggesting power companies may install some 2 to 11 gigawatts of solar by 2030. This compares to today’s total generation capacity of 9.2 gigawatts. In ... More >>
MILD Combustion For Clean Energy And Healing The Planet
Friday, 30 October 2020, 3:12 pm | Molly Melhuish
New Zealand can and must become a world leader in a new technology that could make our electricity supply truly 100% renewable at low cost. Our hydro energy runs short in dry years, wind generation can fail for days at a time, and solar requires costly ... More >>
Community Energy For Dry Year Reserve, Resilience And Carbon Sequestration
Friday, 30 October 2020, 3:09 pm | Molly Melhuish
Today’s electricity market has suppressed some of the most carbon-efficient and cost-effective energy options, namely community energy solutions. [1] Labour’s energy strategy must judge these on their merits before committing funding to their ... More >>
Labour’s “Clean Energy Policy” Promotes Predatory Investment
Thursday, 17 September 2020, 6:27 am | Molly Melhuish
Labour’s “Clean Energy Policy” is a triumph of corporate energy’s predatory investment at the expense of energy efficiency and local energy. A $4 billion dam in Central Otago is to provide jobs for the boys, while funding for warm homes is ... More >>
Four Faults In Transpower’s Proposed Electricity Empire
Tuesday, 4 August 2020, 7:13 am | Molly Melhuish
This morning about 10 climate activists showed up at Downstream 2020, the electricity industry’s annual celebration of its progress over the past year. Here I explain the meaning of four of the signs that were carried. Electricity Empire --> ... More >>
Green The Grid? No, Use Mixed Energy Sources To Reach True Carbon-zero
Monday, 27 July 2020, 7:54 am | Molly Melhuish
Labour’s plan to green the grid is all about electricity. It relies on the analysis promoted by Transpower in 2018, proposing to build an electricity empire twice the size of ours today. Labour’s Lake Onslow scheme to provide electricity in dry hydro ... More >>
Making Smelter’s Exit A Benefit To NZ Consumers And Community
Sunday, 12 July 2020, 7:20 am | Molly Melhuish
Will the exit of the smelter mean cheaper electricity? It should, because the surplus electricity will make wholesale prices crash. But power companies are turning that into profit. When Meridian manipulated wholesale prices last year for just one month, ... More >>
Comment Transmission Pricing Methodology Decision Molly Melhuish 11 June 2020
Thursday, 11 June 2020, 7:23 pm | Molly Melhuish
The new Transmission Pricing Methodology will make your power bill depend on where you live, not whether you can reduce your demand so as to reduce your power bill while reducing the system’s carbon emissions. The electricity industry considers ... More >>
100% renewable electricity has a fatal flaw
Monday, 25 November 2019, 2:05 pm | Molly Melhuish
A fatal flaw in Government’s promise of 100% renewable electricity has been revealed in an Official Information release by MBIE. Their electricity supply scenarios require continuing gas production, and even exploration to assure long term supply. More >>
Electricity Price Review: Householders must not subsidise
Thursday, 3 October 2019, 7:54 pm | Molly Melhuish
I welcome Government’s recognition that electricity is an essential service, so prices must be fair. More >>
Big power companies competing unfairly against local energy
Thursday, 22 August 2019, 12:52 pm | Molly Melhuish
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. More >>
New smelter supports Big Electricity’s growth ambitions
Saturday, 8 December 2018, 12:01 pm | Molly Melhuish
The electricity corporates who generate and distribute electricity are driven by their shareholders’ demand for profits and growth of their assets. Their industrial consumers are growing their demand, and residential consumers are paying for their ... More >>
Think Big electricity?
Tuesday, 25 September 2018, 5:36 pm | Molly Melhuish
The Electricity Price Review is tied to a Think Big energy strategy paid for by consumers instead of taxpayers. More >>
Electricity review suppresses lowest-cost options
Wednesday, 12 September 2018, 2:00 pm | Molly Melhuish
The Electricity Price Review incorrectly states that electricity supplies 85% of household energy, referring to MBIE’s energy balances spreadsheet (screenshot attached). More >>
Energy Efficiency First - a path not a bridge
Wednesday, 9 May 2018, 1:19 pm | Molly Melhuish
Energy Efficiency First - a path not a bridge to a low carbon economy Molly Melhuish More >>
Retail Price Inquiry underpinned by fake economics
Thursday, 29 March 2018, 9:47 am | Molly Melhuish
Fake economics is set to underpin Government’s Retail Price Inquiry. It will be carried out by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and its lead consultant is Concept Consulting. More >>
Household consumer concerns confirmed
Wednesday, 22 February 2017, 4:30 pm | Molly Melhuish
The International Energy Agency’s 2017 review of New Zealand’s energy policies confirms that household electricity prices have risen much faster than in other IEA countries. By 2014, prices were well above IEA average, while industrial prices are ... More >>
CC decision reinforces electricity monopolies
Friday, 17 June 2016, 10:33 am | Molly Melhuish
The Commerce Commission said at the briefing today on Input Methodology rules that they consider consumers of electricity to be stakeholders in electricity regulation. But they said they have no effective way of implementing that . More >>
