Andrew Dickens Afternoons

I was going to start my programme today with some thoughts about the energy crisis, but something else has popped up. But I will share with you some fun facts: Did you know that New Zealand uses the same amount of electricity in 2024 as we did in 2004? Even though our economic activity and population have grown immensely in the past 20 years. What happened is that we, as consumers, became more efficient with our electricity use. We started using LEDs, we started saving, we started being more careful with our use. So the energy crunch is because we're not making as much electricity as we used to - even though we've been saving electricity ourselves  Meanwhile, did you also know that there are currently 22 renewable electricity projects fully consented but not started by the gentailers? So sure, blame the oil and gas exploration ban and that will result in an energy crunch in 10 years. But today's energy crisis is because the generators, who are also the retailers, have not ensured supply despite having it all