Regulate the price of electricity

Cloak of protection Thought tangents Media Council

Neil Harrap (Letters, Nov 9) says the big power companies are driving out the new smaller power companies and that the Commerce Commission should be doing more to ensure fair competition.

While I agree that the competition is unfair on those small retailers, I believe the real problem is the generating model set up under the National government in the 1990s.

When the bulk generation of electricity was split into four companies by minister Max Bradford, the stated reason was to improve competition and lower prices.

This has clearly not happened – in fact, the price has gone up at many times the rate of inflation, mainly due to the pricing model adopted where those companies generating cheap hydroelectricity get paid the price of the highest generation on the grid at the time. So, when the gas-fired generators are running, hydro-generators are making excess profits.

Compare this with the previous monolithic generator (Electricorp/Electricity Department). Then, the price was the average cost of generation plus margin. The system was still run efficiently – a computer program ensured the lakes were kept at an optimum level by thermal ‘‘firming’’. Price regulation is the way to go.

Dave Moore, Stokes Valley

Sources of iron

It is important to update the advice given in Iron out deficiency by opting for steak (Nov 13) suggesting women should eat more steak and dairy to improve their iron and calcium levels.

The article was based on a report from Australia highlighting that we eat too much junk food and too few vegetables.

Ninety-nine per cent of children were not eating enough vegetables and this was most pronounced in young women. It was clear in saying that to have a good diet we need to eat more vegetables, including beans and lentils – NOT that we needed to eat more meat and dairy.

There is no difference in iron deficiency between vegan diets and omnivorous diets, but there is deficency in those who eat junk food a lot.

Young women do need iron and calcium, but they can get this from plants just as easily as from animals. The health message remains the same – eat mostly plant-based, wholegrain, low sugar.

Dr Marion Leighton, consultant physician, Wellington Hospital Susan Hornsby-Geluk’s Timely reform of whistle-blowing law (Nov 14) is on the mark and a good description of the issues.

But she skates over the implications of one aspect that I think is at the heart of employee confusion – the fact that only ‘‘serious wrongdoing’’ can give you the right to generate the protective whistleblowing regime.

If you are aware of mere ‘‘wrongdoing’’ (or unsure whether what you know about is ‘‘serious’’ or not), then there is no ‘‘lawful’’ way to highlight it to the right level without risking some manner of retribution.

In my view, if there is indeed any wrongdoing occurring, particularly in a public sector organisation, then it needs to be stopped, and those who are willing to highlight it in the right way need to be protected.

I think you will find that the original act utilised the distinction because there was a fear of ‘‘floodgates’’ opening and swamping the administration . So having a potential swamp of ordinary old wrongdoing was the price to be paid.

Graeme Buchanan, Karaka Bays In the middle of an entertaining story about spilt peas and the resulting thought tangents (What is infinity? Why me?), Joe Bennett announces (once again) that ‘‘religious belief is always irrational’’ (An infinity of dropped peas, Nov 14).

This excursus into irrelevance is routine, and he never explains his point, but just presumes that his popularity imbues him with authority to make pronouncements on matters he apparently doesn’t understand.

Anyone can reach into a grabbag of pre-fabricated theophobic slurs.

Gavan O’Farrell, Waterloo [abridged]

Mine re-entry

Given that the $36 million reentry into the Pike River mine is unlikely to find bodies or reveal further information about the cause of the explosion, I wonder if this money might have been better spent on the living poor. Perhaps the deceased miners should have been left undisturbed to rest together in peace – the politically unacceptable option four.

Jim Young, Belmont The Dominion Post is subject to the NZ Media Council. Complaints must be directed to editor@dompost .co.nz. If the complainant is unsatisfied with the response, the complaint may be referred to the Media Council, PO Box 10-879, Wellington, 6143 or info@media council.org.nz. Further details at presscouncil.org.nz Email: letters@ dompost.co.nz No attachments. Write: Letters to the Editor, PO Box 1297, Wellington, 6040. Letters must include the writer’s full name, home address and daytime phone number. Letters should not exceed 200 words and must be exclusive. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.