OPINION: Your canine crusader understands large energy firms Genesis and Meridian lately coughed up some main funding to native iwi teams, beneath the auspices of the Treaty of Waitangi, as a part of the renewal functions for his or her useful resource consents in relation to the Waitaki river.
Apparently the iwi teams extracted some severe koha from each the power firms in compensation for the historic lack of – amongst different issues – rock artwork drawings and mahinga kai spots (fish gathering) when the river was dammed again within the Nineteen Thirties to arrange hydro energy.
All properly and good, however nobody will reveal simply precisely how a lot was paid – rumoured to be properly within the multi-millions.
In fact, the heavy worth coughed up gained’t fear the electrical energy turbines, they are going to simply cross the price on to hard-pressed energy customers.
The query is how a lot is the Treaty costing us in electrical energy costs?