Mayor pushing to establish an electricity relief fund for 2010

Central Otago Mayor Malcolm Macpherson hopes by next winter to have established an electricity relief fund to assist power consumers in the district who cannot afford hefty winter power bills.

The News has reported in recent weeks that Central Otago residents, including elderly people and solo parents as well as schools and community facilities are facing exorbitant winter power bills.

Dr Macpherson organised a public meeting last week at which more than 300 people turned out to express their disgust at the rising cost of electricity and lines charges in Central Otago.

At the meeting, support was expressed for setting up an emergency electricity relief fund that could help power consumers from low income and at-risk households.

Those at the meeting heard that the Central Otago Budgeting Service administers a small relief fund of less than $20,000 a year which the Central Lakes Trust funds.

However, this fund was only available to a limited number of clients who were already receiving help from the budget advice service.

Dr Macpherson said yesterday he was in the process of setting up a working party to investigate what was needed to establish a larger district-wide electricity relief fund.

He hoped about half a dozen representatives from the community would be involved in the working party, which would consider issues including eligibility criteria for a grant from the fund.

Dr Macpherson said the ‘‘obvious source of funding'' for the relief scheme would be the Central Lakes Trust and he intended to approach its chief executive Paul Allison to discuss the issue shortly.
However, the Central Lakes Trust did not cover the Maniototo area and the scheme needed to be equitable across the district, so other funding would need to be sourced.

The ‘‘other obvious source of funding'' was Aurora Energy Ltd, which made a huge profit out of lines charges in Central Otago, Dr Macpherson said.

It would be ideal if Aurora could show some social responsibility by agreeing to help fund a scheme to aid those worst affected in Central Otago by high winter electricity prices, he said.

It was likely several hundred thousand dollars would need to be made available on an annual basis for the relief fund, Dr Macpherson believed.

Dunedin City Council has $200,000 a year allocated for a consumer electricity relief fund.

DCC community adviser Paul Coffey said yesterday the funds were administered on the council's behalf by the Anglican Family Care organisation.

There are five other agencies that give out the money in Dunedin, including Budget Advice Services and Presbyterian Support Otago.

‘‘People are allowed to access it once a year,'' Mr Coffey said.

The service had been provided for quite a few years and funding fluctuated annually between $150,000 and $200,000, he said.

‘‘It's usually all spent by the end of the financial year. There's usually more demand than we can meet.''
Those requiring financial assistance beyond a certain threshold needed to be getting budget advice, he said.

Dr Macpherson hoped a scheme would be available for administration in Central Otago by next winter.

- Jenny Collier and Lee Jamieson.