power company boss pay-hikes a good incentive for self-sufficiency

The news that the bosses of two of NZ's power companies privatised by the government last year have had massive hikes in their already annual 7-figure pay is a good incentive to stop paying money to them by becoming self-sufficient in electricity and gas; the first by installing solar panels and the second by bio-gas generators (which produce methane from household waste).  We are doing both.

As we said to the solar power company rep, "You should send [Finance Minister] Bill English a big thank you card for the all the extra business he's giving you." Bill English gave plant nurseries a big boost with his hiking GST on food in 2010.  While we won't be self-sufficient in food, we now grow a lot more than we did before Bill English hiked GST.