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Photo: 123RF A consumer watchdog is challenging Meridian Energy's claim that households are spending proportionally less on their power bills because electricity prices are not rising as fast as other expenses. Meridian released its annual report on Wednesday, showing a net profit more than 4.5 times greater than last year. But while big manufacturing companies like Panpac and Winstones have shut down production to cut costs, most households are yet to see big bumps in their power bills. That is according to the companies that generate and sell electricity - commonly referred to a gentailers. Despite its massive profit, Meridian's chief executive Neal Barclay told RNZ the percentage of household spending being directed at power bills had actually gone down over the past decade. "For most...

Photo: Alexa Cook/RNZ The proposed closure of two large North Island mills is already hurting the local economy in Raetihi, with people moving away and businesses feeling the pinch. The forest products company Winstone Pulp International is looking at closing its entire operation due to high wholesale power prices, which will result in 230 jobs lost. Raetihi's Coach Cafe and Takeaways owner Angie Robson told RNZ it has been much quieter since the mill announced its plans to close last week. "The first day they mentioned it we stood around for an hour and a half in the evening, and we've never ever stood around and done nothing. "People are just being really careful, they're not spending, some already moving out of town," she said. Raetihi's Coach Cafe and Takeaways has been quiet sinc...

ANZ's economists are predicting house prices will rise 4.5 percent next year. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon A stronger-than-expected housing market rebound is a possibility as interest rates fall, the country's biggest bank says. ANZ's economists expect a small fall in house prices over this year, and values to stabilise towards the end. Next year, they expect prices to pick up 4.5 percent - a little less than BNZ's forecast of 7 percent. They earlier said that the recovery from this downturn is harder to predict because it has been a policy-induced recession rather than something caused by external factors. It was not clear how much activity, including the housing market, was simply deferred rather than cancelled, they said. They said were some early signs that the housing market might bo...

An illustration of Far North Solar Farm's consented 38-hectare solar farm in Marton, Rangitīkei. Photo: Supplied / Far North Solar Farm A solar power company getting government investment aims to produce 15 percent of the country's daytime electricity. The $78 million deal between Crown-owned New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) and Far North Solar Farm signed on Tuesday will connect five of the company's sites to the national grid. The five sites were in different stages of development with several entering the construction phase, Far North Solar Farm director Richard Homewood said. He said the investment would allow them to rapidly accelerate development, and most sites would be under construction within 12-18 months, Homewood told Morning Report. They would produce the equi...

a2 Milk has about a 20 percent stake in Synlait. Photo: Getty Images Former CEO John Penno has questioned who can vote at a special meeting. He says two major shareholders providing a rescue package should be barred. Bright Dairy and a2 Milk have bankrolled a $218m cash injection. The Synlait chair says if a deal is not approved, the company will go into insolvency. The former head of dairy company Synlait Milk is threatening to upset a vital meeting to save the financially strapped business. The company said it had received a complaint from former chief executive and chair John Penno, that Synlait's two major shareholders Bright Dairy and a2 Milk should not be allowed to vote on the $218 million capital raising. The two big companies are putting up all the money needed, which wou...