The power station supplying Tiwai Point was basically built to...

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    The power station supplying Tiwai Point was basically built to supply it with power. The station is a hydro one. Water. It is free and perpetual - unless we have some catastrophic climate event there will always be water in South Island lakes and rivers.

    For all the good that the smelter does in terms of jobs and economic benefit, they should really charge token power prices.
    But that would be a 'subsidy'.
    That would be wrong.
    The smelter already gets 'cheap' power. So give them cheaper power. They need to make a profit, or maybe they would even settle for breaking even and awaiting improved conditions. But they are probably not prepared to run a loss-making smelter.  
    'Subsidies' are wrong. They hurt the taxpayer apparently. (I'm sure the taxpayer likes the thousands of tax-paying jobs that the smelter provides though).  
    And yet we have 'subsidies' going on in the form of payments to workers who aren't working, and interest rates set by the State which subsidise borrowers & punish savers. We have subsidies in the form of tax breaks that benefit the property ponzi scheme industry, and no-one says a word about it.
    I guess it's only a rort if you are not part of it, as they say.
 
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