Penrose Business Association Calls For Action In Electricity Market

With a major Penrose employer planning to close a key factory due to massive electricity price increases, the Penrose Business Association is calling on the government to take urgent action to ensure electricity market pricing remains affordable for business.

Oji Fibre Solutions has announced it plans to close its mill on Hugo Johnston drive in the heart of the Penrose industrial precinct due to rising power costs. Electricity is a key input to businesses throughout the area, especially those running energy intensive industrial processes. The area is home to major industrial and manufacturing companies employing thousands of Aucklanders.

The Association is worried that this may just be the tip of the iceberg with further job losses nationally hitting without improvements to the situation. As one of New Zealand’s largest business areas and a major contributor to the national GDP, Penrose has a plethora of high energy users in a diverse range of industries from large scale recycling and manufacturing plants to hi-tech datacentres.

Penrose Business Association Chair Peter Lamberton states: “Manufacturers and industrial companies are important members of the Penrose Business community and are responsible for considerable business activity and employment in the area. With news that businesses are considering shuttering with the loss of a large number of jobs due to unprecedented electricity prices, we call on the government to ensure that the electricity market operates in a way that doesn’t put important local companies at risk”.

Oji Fibre Solutions’ mill is coincidentally located only metres away from what was the Southdown Power Station – a 50MW gas-powered power plant that was shut down in 2015.

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