Alternating Currents or Counter-Revolution? Contemporary Electricity Reform in New Zealand, VUW Press 2005 , 1-346

Abstract

The authors place New Zealands current institutional arrangements for its electricity sector within the context of successive waves of economic reform. They compare these arrangements with developments internationally, drawing together lessons for future policymaking both in New Zealand and overseas. This book is a work of political economy that carefully analyses the interplay between technology, economics and politics that has at different times driven the sector. Controversially, the authors argue that the market reforms of the 1980s and 1990s provided greater supply security than the more centralised arrangements that prevailed in the past - and that New Zealands reversion to more centralised and political control since the late 1990s has resulted in an unsustainable half-way house that hinders private electricity investment and reinforces this trend. Themes of the book are: Does electricity sector liberalisation help politicians, power companies and consumers? Will central planning or market forces be more likely to ensure supply security? Is regulation or ownership the best way to protect consumers from electricity monopolies? Can electricity reforms succeed with centralised transmission planning? What can be learned from 20 years of electricity reform in New Zealand?