Despite there being a Minister of Energy in the New Zealand cabinet, there is no ministry of the same name. The Labour-led Government issued an Energy Policy Framework on 3 October 2000, under which specific policy documents were settled in particular government departments, most notably the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry for the Environment (Barton, 2005). As climate change issues have risen up the political agenda, more government departments have become involved in this policy area.
2.6.1.
Ministry of Economic Development
The Minister of Energy is advised on the operation and regulation of the energy industry by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED). MED also chairs the Officials Committee on Sustainable Energy (OCSE) which advises the Minister on matters of energy supply and demand and the Sustainable Energy Steering Group which progresses strategic policy development on the Government’s Sustainable Development Programme of Action (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006b).
2.6.2.
Commerce Commission
The Commerce Commission (CC) both enforces legislation specific to the electricity industry and, in a more general sense, legislation that promotes competition and fair market practices. Under the Electricity Reform Act 1998 the CC has both an adjudication and enforcement role (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006b).
2.6.3.
Electricity Commission
The Electricity Commission (EC), established in 2003, serves a number of functions including overseeing Transpower’s pricing methodology and regulating the wholesale and retail operations of the electricity industry with regard to the Electricity Act 1992 and government energy policy. The EC is tasked with ensuring that electricity is produced and marketed in an efficient, fair, reliable, and environmentally sustainable manner whilst promoting its efficient use (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006b). The EC is required to:
secure reserves within the electricity system to reduce the risk of shortfalls in periods of very low hydro inflows … [it] has a strong focus on security of supply including that from renewable energy. Renewable technologies are seen to enhance the security of supply by diversifying the energy supply mix (East Harbour Management Services 2006: 97).
As an illustration of this role, in June 2005 the EC produced a consultation paper, the Wind Generation Investigation Project. The objective of this project is to:
identify and quantify the technical and market impacts of wind generation upon the New Zealand power system over the next ten years, and to recommend technical codes and market rule changes to ensure power system security and market outcomes that are consistent with the Government Policy Statement (Electricity Commission, 2005: 5).
2.6.4.
Ministry for the Environment
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) is responsible for the administration of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). It is also responsible for advising the Minister Responsible for Climate Change, monitoring the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), and working with EECA on relevant climate change issues (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006b).
2.6.5.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
EECA is a Crown entity under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2000. Its primary function is to advise the Minister of Energy on the promotion of energy efficiency, energy conservation and the sustainable use of renewable energy resources as in the Renewable Energy - Industry Status Report (2006) which is produced on a regular basis (East Harbour Management Services, 2006; Parliamentary Commissioner
for the Environment, 2006b). However, at the heart of the 2000 Act is the process for making the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy which must be reviewed every five years (Barton, 2005).
2.6.6.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
With regard to electricity generation the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) is empowered under the Environment Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1992, the Electricity Amendment Act 2001 and the Electricity Amendment Act 2004. These Acts allow for investigation of existing and potential adverse effects on the environment by the electricity industry and require the PCE to report to parliament on an annual basis on the environmental performance of the EC (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2006b).
In the PCE’s December 2007 report The environmental performance of the Electricity Commission 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006 (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2007), the Commissioner states that:
the electricity sector contributes to the government’s climate change objectives by … removing barriers to investment in new generation technologies, renewables and distributed energy (2007: 8).
Whilst she makes no direct comment on community ownership, she does make further comment on the related subject of distributed generation stating that:
there is a link between removing barriers to distributed generation and the EC’s roles in transmission investments. New transmission investments can facilitate distributed generation or create more barriers. The EC should take these connections into account … It is vital that the regulations for distributed generation are completed soon to assist the EC in ensuring that barriers are removed … the Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998 limits the extent to which lines companies can invest in distributed generation. This was enacted on the grounds that if lines companies are involved in both generating and selling electricity to their customers this will give them unfair advantage over their competitors … However, investment by line companies in generation could actually provide the least cost solution to ensuring network reliability (2007: 18).