Hemmingway, the just-retired head of Oregon's Public Utility Commission, would bring a wealth of experience to the newly-created position of commissioner. His appointment was a "progressive move", said ENA chairman Warren Moyes yesterday.
"Roy Hemmingway has said publicly that he understands the limitations of regulation. This is a comforting message to an industry that has been locked into a series of inward-looking reviews and centralised initiatives that have threatened to paralyse investment.
"Oregon faces some of the same problems we do with conflicting claims for a finite hydro resource, and with looming gas constraints. It will be refreshing to have a new mind introduced to the industry here."
Moyes said the other electricity commission appointments also appeared reasonably well-balanced, which was a change, given the recurrent problem of the past where ad hoc government advisory groups had tended to rake over the same ground and to repeat past mistakes.
"This commission brings the promise of stability to an industry that has had far too much intervention over the past decade or more."
EnergyReview.Net yesterday reported that Energy Minister Pete Hodgson had announced the members and mission of his electricity commission to the chagrin of some users, such as the Major Electricity Users Group (MEUG) which said power users could face a bill of $NZ60 million a year for capacity that may never need to be used.
