Pilfering poor pockets to fill shysters’ wallets

If anyone doubted in which political camp Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly’s feet were rooted, his opinion piece on the power sector ( More competition is good for power sector, April 30) would have put their doubts to rest as he dutifully quoted National Party scare headlines about North Korea, the former Soviet Union and Venezuela as examples of countries with price controls.

He conveniently ignores the well-reasoned arguments and examples of Western countries with successful electricity power price controls, which have previously appeared in The Dominion Post.

There’s no doubt that the previous Labour-led governments benefited hugely from Max Bradford’s electricity reforms, aiding them in their social reengineering and allowing them to buy votes with outrageous giveaways of cash and benefits. However, a National government introduced those reforms.

These reforms, which we were promised would cut power prices, did the reverse – and in spades. Rampantly inflated power prices and over-valued electricitygenerating plant have sucked cash from the pockets of the workingclass to line the wallets of a new breed of bloated corporate shysters.

O’Reilly’s article contained more bluff than substance and should be read with caution. DOUGAL CABLE

Waikanae