So says the New Zealand Herald this morning.
In developments yesterday:
* Civil Defence chiefs met in Auckland and urged the Government to implement an energy-savings campaign early.
* Meridian Energy warned that any "glitch" at Huntly's thermal power station this winter would plunge the country into an electricity crisis.
* Genesis Energy chief executive Murray Jackson said the North Island's peak demand - between 6pm and 8pm each day - had to drastically drop in the next four weeks.
Business is worried
Auckland Regional Council deputy chairman Michael Barnett said he did not think Civil Defence was over-reacting.
"I'm thinking of an exporter ... " said Mr Barnett, who is also Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive.
"Is he talking to his clients offshore today about his June-July deliveries and saying, 'You will have to wait until I see if the village generator is working that week'? That to me is a nonsense."
Auckland suppliers of power generators say concern in the business community about blackouts is reflected in the number of inquiries about generators.
"More companies are buying them as standby power in the event of emergency," said NZ Generator Hire sales manager Jim Stewart.
"All sorts of companies are looking at buying generators - a lot of IT firms cannot afford to have power down, especially companies with a lot of servers.
"People remember that during the Auckland CBD power outage a decade ago you could not get a machine. People know they have to have a backup."
But incredibly Meridian and Contact don't seem too worried about South Island hydropower lake water levels. Who should we believe?
