The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady

95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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Happy ETS Eve everyone! Ok, maybe that's not completely accurate, but it is safe to say, from tomorrow people are going to start noticing the cost of the emissions trading scheme. Energy, fossil fuels, industrial processes and transport will face extra costs from July 1 - which really means, you will. So to celebrate slash comiserate, today's wire will focus on a few different aspects of the scheme.

1210 - Molly Melhuish, Domestic Energy Users Network

First up at at 12.10 we'll hear from (above) who are all about fair electricity pricing which reflects real costs but not market power of either generators or retailers. I spoke to Molly this morning about how a couple of energy companies - Mercury and Contact - have said the ETS is going to cost them so they have to raise prices by around 3%. Before it's even started, and before they have any idea how much it'll actually cost. Mercury's general manager said as much this morning. So is it fair for energy companies to be lifting their prices as of July 1st, when they;ve known for a long time what impact the ETS will have? And for those, like Mercury, who's generation is largely based on renewable sources, what about the windfall profits they'll make because of the ETS?

1225 - Counterclockwise

We come to counterclockwise a little earlier today - Lyndon Hood climbing down from Scoop's gigantic oil rig to talk about Petrobras in New Zealand. The former is a Brazilian oil giant which has just been given the rights to prospect for oil and gas in 12000 square kilometres off the north island's east coast. The latter is the country we live in, which by all accounts, would be well and truly fubar'd if a mistake like the one in the Gulf of Mexico were to happen here. And that's despite all the assurances we've been given by the government. Drill baby, drill?

1230 - Wayne King, Director of Carbon Market Solutions

Back to the ETS carry on around half past 12, when I'll be speaking to (above). Wayne's company specialises in maximising value from trading carbon credits internationally and helps organisations to participate in the global carbon market. He'l be on the line to talk to us about how the TRADING part of the Emissions Trading Scheme works.

1245 - Climate Change Minister Nick Smith

And then at 12.45, the man in the middle of it all - (above) - will join us. I'll be talking to him about how trading emissions is the same as reducing emissions, why a scheme that's supposed to penalise the polluters ends up penalising their consumers instead, and how in God's name we can reduce emissions when we still live and die by the economic ideal of unending growth.

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