TE ŌHANGA MAURI #144 - ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY: POWERING OURSELVES WITH RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY

Tēnā koutou e te whānau. In our previous posts, we explored how keeping our timber in the North allows us to build healthy homes and how healing our whānau is better than building prisons. Today, we are looking at the literal "power" behind this vision. To run a local housing factory or keep a home warm, we need energy. In this post, we look at how the North can stop buying expensive power from far away and start generating its own.

The Problem: Paying for the Long Wire

Currently, the way we get electricity is another part of the "Leaky Bucket" economy. Even though we have incredible energy resources right here in Taitokerau, we often pay some of the highest power prices in the country. This is because we are at the end of a very long wire.

The current system is built on a "Money-First" model where big gentailers (companies that both generate and sell power) focus on dividends for shareholders. We pay for the maintenance of a national grid and the profits of middlemen, even when the sun is shining on our own roofs or the heat is rising from our own ground. When a whānau has to choose between heating the house and buying healthy food, the "Mauri" (the life force) of that home is being drained by a bill.

The Proposal: Local Power for Local People

We are proposing a strategy for Energy Sovereignty. Instead of being at the mercy of a distant market, this model suggests we use the natural gifts of our region to power our own lives.