Why not release the Wolak report?

Recently Adam posted on various matters related to the Commerce Commission. Adam had commented on an opinion piece by Ernie Newman and an earlier article by Fran O’Sullivan.

He concluded the post on Newman’s article with these comments:-

Newman concludes his article:-

The Government may come to regret being influenced by a small, skewed group of disaffected stakeholders who enjoy a position of market privilege. It should think with enormous care, and consult far more widely, before weakening the commission any further.

Very much the conclusion of Adam’s post yesterday. See also Quotation for Today, Thursday 19 March. Adam’s prior post on Fran O’Sullivan’s article had engendered a degree of comment and debate especially with Paul Walker of Anti-Dismal.

This all came to mind when he read this report in the NZ Herald. It is about Gerry Brownlee launching a Ministerial Review of the electricity sector.

Mr Brownlee said the review would bring together a number of reports into the sector already under way or completed.

Many might suggest that Adam was being unduly paranoid, but Paula Rebstock has gone and as far as Adam is aware the Wolak Report has not been released. The Wolnak report being the results of an independent investigation by Stanford University Professor Frank Wolak. Why not release the Wolak report. Why set up yet another review?

In a description of some of his work available on-line Professor Wolak wrote:-

In spite of the California electricity crisis, three years of unusually high prices in the US natural gas industry, two electricity crises in the New Zealand electricity market in three years, and several other episodes of aberrant market outcomes in energy industries in other countries, the
process of worldwide energy industry restructuring continues. One lesson that has emerged from these events is that the unique features of the structure of production and regulatory oversight in electricity and natural gas industries make them susceptible to the exercise of unilateral market power. This fact makes successful restructuring in electricity and natural gas industries extremely challenging. The only thing regulators can be sure of is that the initial market design will contain flaws that must be corrected, and if they are not corrected significant consumer harm can occur in a very short time. Consequently, particularly for these two industries, there is a need for consistent measures of market performance that can be compared across regions and over time to detect market design flaws and determine the appropriate regulatory intervention or market rule change.

Highlighting by Adam for emphasis.

This comment makesAdam very keen to see the conclusions of the report Prof. Wolak has prepared for the Commerce Commission.