More pay for them; bigger bills for us

24 comments on “More pay for them; bigger bills for us ”

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1. emergency mike 1

   4 April 2013 at 1:37 pm

   Jebus it’s like a Dilbert Cartoon.

   Govt: We’ve decided to nearly double your fees because you are doing such a great job. Tell me, what ideas do you have to increase profits?

   Directors: According to our calculations if we raise power prices, we will get more money, and that means more profit.

   Govt: Your pay rise is money well spent.
2. mac1 2

   4 April 2013 at 1:43 pm

   Of course the directors need these “conservative” increases. They will have a difficult job to do increasing the price of power to the consumers who will have to pay for enlarging power generation capacity in order to sell more power to the consumers who will then have to pay for increased fees to the directors………………

   Meanwhile I will say this again- the original director’s fee is what I earn now as a cleaner- for two years work. The 73% increase will make that about three and a half years salary.
3. Draco T Bastard 3

   4 April 2013 at 2:12 pm

   These people just aren’t connected to reality and they’re certainly not doing the public any service.
4. Dv 4

   4 April 2013 at 2:18 pm

   Look over therE!!
5. ianmac 5

   4 April 2013 at 2:23 pm

   Spose if the increase is done now it might look better than when/if Mighty River is sold.

   It reminds me of a crowd waiting for the procession to start. Some shuffle forward. So others shuffle forward because the first lot are in front. So the first lot shuffle forward because the second lot are in front. So the second lot shuffle forward because….ad nauseum. So it seems to be with Directors salaries. A sort of “They do it so we are justified in doing it too to keep up.”
   Ultimately it will justify millions being paid just because….
6. fender 6

   4 April 2013 at 2:35 pm

   Shouldn’t they only be getting 49% of that pay rise considering 51% is to remain Govt. owned?

   I wouldn’t give them any extra personally.
7. (Not the real) Rodney Hide 7

   4 April 2013 at 2:36 pm

   Russell Norman needs to learn to STFU! Stop pointing out glaring examples of unfairness in our political-economic system. Does he not realise how bad this makes us look?!
   If he just kept mum about these trifling matters then he himself could probably benefit from them, what a mug!
8. Dogberry 8

   4 April 2013 at 2:46 pm

   This plus the Tiwai Point ferrago is making me seriously consider diverting the $20-30,000 I’d put aside for power company purchases into a whole-house solar system instead – an outlay of $25,000 would see me home-and-hosed power-wise and even taking my power-bills for the last 12 months rather than the next would give me a return of over 10%.

   Plus no more outages and I wouldn’t be paying a cent towards the upkeep of these over-egoed yes-men.

   Plus $25,000 less in the bank for the banksters to use to underwrite their gambling and bonuses.

   What’s not to like?
   • geoff 8.1

     4 April 2013 at 3:01 pm

     What’s hard to evaluate with these sorts of calculation is the intangibles like: how good would it feel to not have the power companies milking you? How good would it feel to turn the page in the paper and read about across-the-board power price increases and know that you are untouchable?
     I’m guessing it would feel pretty good.
     The only thing that would concern is the cost of maintenance for a system like that. One thing in your favour would be the ever decreasing prices for solar cells. But then you start thinking, well maybe I should just wait 5 years and I’ll only have to pay $15,000 for the system so you end up putting it off.
     • tc 8.1.1

       4 April 2013 at 4:54 pm

       solar only works as a 24 X 7 system with battery banks supplying the stored energy at night or another form of generation i.e. gas/diesel so hardly clean.

       maintenance, battery storage etc, they know it’s not easy to do or a small capital investment that’s why they behave as they do……and the fact they’re run by sociopath’s.
       • geoff 8.1.1.1

         4 April 2013 at 5:42 pm

         I wouldn’t bother with batteries, I’d have a grid tie system and get paid to generate. I believe genesis still pays people the same price for the electricity they generate as the power they use. Then you just need enough solar capacity to offset what your annual use is.
         • geoff 8.1.1.1.1

           4 April 2013 at 5:52 pm

           Not Genesis, maybe Meridian. Although looks like they have or are in the process of changing their feed in rates.
           Hmm maybe not so independent. I hate the idea of batteries though.
           • DH 8.1.1.1.1.1

             4 April 2013 at 7:06 pm

             Meridian. Their new feed-in tariff came into effect this month, I was informed the daily rate is 1:1 for the first 5 kw/hr and 10c for any extra feed-in after that. Grid-tie systems only feed back to the grid what’s not being used so you’d get more than 5 Kw/hr’s worth but it’s not enough to cover evening & morning use in the average home.
   • tc 8.2

     4 April 2013 at 4:49 pm

     One could suggest it’s exactly what Shonkey wants, scare the local horses so his banksta mates hover even more up.

     Dogberry you should be doing that anyway and unless you’re off grid you will always be paying them something in terms of monthly connection/line charges…..the game’s way rigged in their favour, try putting power back into the grid and see how tough and ridiculous that farce is.
     • geoff 8.2.1

       4 April 2013 at 5:55 pm

       the game’s way rigged in their favour, try putting power back into the grid and see how tough and ridiculous that farce is.

       Have you had some experience with this? It does sound like something they would do to protect their oligarchy.
       • Dogberry 8.2.1.1

         4 April 2013 at 8:41 pm

         Yeah. Without solid statutory backing to feed-in rates I wouldn’t consider staying on-grid.

         Best to go completely independent.
     • SpaceMonkey 8.2.2

       5 April 2013 at 11:13 am

       The banksters aren’t coming in for the shares until “Ma and Pa” have been scared by the loss in the value of their shares. The banksters have oversight of the whole process… they know where the skeletons are and will more than likely move them into darker spaces, off the books, or talk them down so the power generators look better and public confidence is maintained. A nice price will be set to fleece “Ma and Pa” afterwhich the skeletons will be “discovered”… price sinks, Ma and Pa panic and sell… bankster buys. Alongside this, the bankster has a short on the share price of the power generator.

       So throughout the whole scam… the bankster gets a fee for selling it (if they are one of the institutions overseeing the sale), has a side-bet on the devaluation of the share price which it uses to vacuum up any going shares when the ordinary investors sell in a panic. Standard pump and dump, though after Facebook I expect it to be more under the radar
9. KiwiOverseas 9

   4 April 2013 at 5:19 pm

   John Key can try to be the best con man since Roger Douglas, but the mess he creates won’t be worse than the mess Labour had to clean up from the 80s and 90s. National knows it’s time is up so they are selling assets, filling pockets and fleecing the middle class and the poor.
10. Ennui 10

    4 April 2013 at 5:24 pm

    Kleptocracy, nothing illegal of course but morally outrageous. We always suspected the emperors clothes hid a festering sore, now naked for all to see. There are’nt even any apologies or hiding from the overt carpetbagging of their buddies lining up for a slice of the action at our expense.
11. xtasy 11

    4 April 2013 at 6:49 pm

    Karol: Where do you get all this highly interesting info from? I am very impressed, you are making a huge contribution to the Standard.

    Yes, here we have the few at the top again filling their pockets, while consumers will face electricity price increases. It seems to never stop, every few months I get letters from MRP to entice me into signing up for a fixed rate for 2 or 3 years.

    But hey, how can one rely on that, and as a renter, I may well have to move all over a sudden, and being on a benefit will not make it easy for me to keep the account.

    Then I would be hit with a payment to opt out.

    I am starting to agree with Penny Bright, that all Mercury customers should simply switch providers, so there will be few consumers and customers left for them. That will send a message home to the prospective share buyers.

    God, if only enough Kiwis would bloody wake up and use their common sense and not fall for the tricks and dirty deals by Key and his government.
12. johnm 12

    5 April 2013 at 11:34 am

    How to help the plebs to ‘strive’: TAKE MONEY OFF THEM…* How to to help the rich to strive: GIVE THEM MORE MORE MONEY! ** Twisted logic from the Tory filth. 🙁 🙁 🙁

    * By selling their assets and increasing their power costs.

    ** Give them massive pay rises and tax cuts. 🙁 🙁 🙁

    U$K Take money off the bennies give corporations at the same time a tax cut!

    NeoLiberal Terminal madness.
    • johnm 12.1

      6 April 2013 at 10:52 am

      Also help your rich class by demonising the underclass* while you bail out your corrupt money grubbing mates:

      **Benefit fraud £1bn a year
      tax fraud, evasion and avoidance £120bn
      bank bailouts £1tn
      QE all for banks £375bn in 4 years
      Tories supporting their rich friends, always

      * It seems incredible that we have a UK government that is willing to use a vile character like Philpott as a political tool to further demonize the poor, disabled and underpaid in this country. Never has there been a government more determined to divide and isolate the people of this country. These people have successfully managed, along with other far right governments around the world, to destroy all the progress made by the working classes over the past 100 years. These people care nothing for you or your family, be very aware of this. They may reduce the above to a total state of poverty and then where will they turn their greedy eyes to? So before you ‘I’m alright Jack’ people get too smug in your world of haves be prepared to join the have-nots. Remember 100,000 plus civil servants were haves only a short while ago.
      • Colonial Viper 12.1.1

        6 April 2013 at 10:56 am

        And there’s this. Cameron backs new £100B nuclear missile deterrent as a must have.

        No mention of any lack of money or tight finances eh.
13. TEA 13

    5 April 2013 at 1:37 pm

    A great divi earner for all share holders.

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