Power prices have jumped by about 11% nationally in the first half of this year, and older people are among the most affected. (Image: Tina Tiller)
Power prices have jumped by about 11% nationally in the first half of this year, and older people are among the most affected. (Image: Tina Tiller)

The BulletinJuly 3, 2025

Cold comfort as power prices climb and climb

Power prices have jumped by about 11% nationally in the first half of this year, and older people are among the most affected. (Image: Tina Tiller)
Power prices have jumped by about 11% nationally in the first half of this year, and older people are among the most affected. (Image: Tina Tiller)

While electricity companies rake in profits, pensioners and low-income households are rationing heat just to get through winter, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Bills bite deep as power prices soar

For thousands of New Zealanders, the midwinter chill isn’t just uncomfortable – it’s also a major financial hit. Power prices have jumped by about 11% nationally in the first half of this year, and older people are among the most affected. As RNZ’s Checkpoint reported yesterday​, pensioners are resorting to drastic tactics – turning off hot water cylinders for days or going to bed before dark – to cope with bills that have leapt from $85 a month to over $130. Greta Bond of Age Concern Canterbury says older people, particularly those who live alone, are increasingly forced to choose between warmth and other essentials. “I think it’s a really appalling indictment of our society when you have people who are older who are having these challenges to their dignity and wellbeing based on a few dollars,” she told Checkpoint.

If you’re struggling to pay your power bill, all is not lost. As Shanti Mathias explains in The Spinoff, power companies have a number of support mechanisms in place, including bill credits, more time to pay and even funding for curtains, insulation and heat pumps.​

Gentailers profit while investment lags

Behind the eye-watering bills sits a market structure that, Consumer NZ argues, is failing ordinary New Zealanders. About 85% of households still rely on one of the original ‘gentailers’ – companies that both generate and retail electricity – like Mercury, Meridian, Contact and Genesis. Consumer’s Jessica Walker says these firms have not kept up with needed investment in new generation assets, instead enjoying record operating profits of $2.7 billion last year. Today the Herald reports (paywalled) that Mercury’s ex-CEO Vince Hawksworth took home $3.8 million in base pay and benefits in 2022/23, making him one of NZ’s best-paid executives at the time. Meanwhile, “consumers pay the price for the lack of investment in new generation, as we have lurched from energy crisis to energy crisis,” Walker writes.

Despite a 38% rise in residential power prices since the 1990s, the promised competition and lower bills never materialised. Instead, high dividends and asset revaluations keep shareholders happy while consumers pay more to keep the lights – and heaters – on.

Gas price surge adds insult to injury

The squeeze doesn’t stop at electricity. Households with gas connections face another hit, paying separate daily charges for gas infrastructure on top of their electricity lines. With domestic natural gas reserves declining sharply, scarcity is pushing up prices further, reports Sharon Brettkelly for RNZ’s The Detail podcast.

Gas suppliers have started to hike their prices, with Powerswitch’s Paul Fuge saying he’s seen increases of up to 20%. According to Fuge, an electricity-only house will almost always be much cheaper to run than a gas-electricity house, and not just because of the double fixed charges. Gas customers also miss out on the cheapest electricity plans, he tells Brettkelly, because most gas suppliers demand that customers also take their electricity, and the cut-price electricity providers don’t do gas.

Government backtracks on gas price increases

While households juggle rising costs, the government has faced embarrassment over basic facts. A recent cabinet paper promoting a $200 million co-investment in new gas fields overstated residential gas price increases by more than fivefold, Newsroom’s Andrew Bevin reports (paywalled).

“In 2024, commercial prices rose by 58 percent, wholesale by 48 percent, industrial by 44 percent and residential by 17 percent,” the paper read. In fact, as the red text in the paper’s margin clarified, “The correct figures should read wholesale (25 percent) industrial (19 percent) commercial (8 percent) and residential (3 percent).” MBIE blamed a calculation error but defended its broader claim that prices are rising due to tightening supply, pointing to a 27% drop in natural gas reserves over the past year.

Critics have jumped on the error, with Greenpeace’s Gen Toop saying it reveals resources minister Shane Jones as having either “a deeply inadequate understanding of the energy system in Aotearoa, or a flagrant disregard for the facts. Either way, this false information has been used [to justify] funnelling taxpayers’ money into the pockets of fossil fuel corporations.”

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A smartphone displaying a sports betting app lies on a casino table surrounded by poker chips and playing cards. The left side features a blue banner with the text “THE BULLETIN.”.
With more betting companies heading for NZ next year, the tension between gambling profits and harm minimisation is only set to grow. (Photo: Getty Images)

The BulletinJuly 2, 2025

Will NZ’s big bet on online gambling pay off?

A smartphone displaying a sports betting app lies on a casino table surrounded by poker chips and playing cards. The left side features a blue banner with the text “THE BULLETIN.”.
With more betting companies heading for NZ next year, the tension between gambling profits and harm minimisation is only set to grow. (Photo: Getty Images)

Major law changes are set to reshape how New Zealanders gamble – and bring in tens of millions in new taxes, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Sports betting monopoly tightened

This week marked a significant shake-up for the online betting landscape, with new rules cementing the TAB’s monopoly over sports betting in Aotearoa. Backed by all parties and driven by racing minister Winston Peters, the law updates the Racing Act to ban overseas operators from taking bets from New Zealanders – an attempt, The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias explains, to protect the $19 billion racing industry and the 13,500 jobs it supports. While some punters fear that a monopoly will mean worse odds, Entain, the UK giant that partners with the TAB in NZ, says its odds will match those of Ladbrokes in the competitive Australian market. The new rules arrive alongside the launch of the Problem Gambling Foundation’s Are You Being Played? campaign, aimed at raising awareness of how betting companies hook young men on sports betting.​

Online casinos next in line

The government’s next frontier is online casino gambling. On Monday, internal affairs minister Brooke van Velden introduced the Online Casino Gambling Bill, which will regulate an area that has long operated in a legal grey zone. Under the legislation, the government will auction up to 15 licences, all requiring operators to supply provide detailed business plans, including for harm minimisation, explains Davina Zimmer for The Detail. Companies like SkyCity and Christchurch Casino, which currently run their online operations out of Malta, are expected to shift their businesses back onshore when the new regime kicks in from February 2026.

The changes are designed to claw back tax revenue and bring gambling into a regulated harm-reduction framework – but they’re also expected to unleash a wave of advertising for online casinos, something that has been illegal under current law.

Influencers in the spotlight

For now, it remains illegal to advertise offshore betting sites here, but that hasn’t deterred many influencers from taking quick cash to spruik them. Millie Elder-Holmes was fined $5,000 for repeat promotions, nine more influencers have received cease and desist notices, and 27 are on a watch-list, reports Joseph Los’e in the Herald.

Some of the worst offenders appear to be student social media accounts. Sam Smith-Soppet of Critic, the Otago student magazine, recently reported on student influencers pushing Rainbet, an offshore crypto casino, despite clear legal prohibitions. Another audience being heavily targeted by influencer marketing is Māori, who make up 17% of the population but 30% of problem gamblers, Los’e reports. Māori Health Organisation Hāpai Te Hauora’s Jason Alexander wants the gambling companies involved to be banned from this country. “These gambling companies are knowingly using Māori influencers to reach Māori audiences. It’s not just harmful – it’s calculated, it’s manipulative, and it shows they have no regard for the wellbeing of our whānau.”

Legal promotions still pose risks

Not all online gambling promotions are rogue. Under New Zealand law, influencers can legally promote the TAB and its youth-focused subsidiary, Betcha. As Shanti Mathias reported in December, plenty of local influencers are leaning in. “This is a universe of paid partnerships, sponsored podcasts, exclusive invites for influencers and underneath it all, gambling, all carefully choreographed and reduced to catchy Instagram Reels,” she writes.

While posts usually carry the familiar (and legally required) “R18, Gamble Responsibly” tagline, the experts Shanti speaks to warn that’s far from enough, and say young people, especially young men, are constantly seeing betting normalised on their feeds. With many more local licences on the way, the tension between gambling profits and harm minimisation is only set to grow.