Ever considered making and selling electricity from the comfort of your home or business? While that might sound like some dodgy online scam, it’s not as far-fetched as you might think, writes Vector’s Chief Networks Officer Andre Botha.

You’ve read the news stories already: technology is evolving and everyone’s an innovator these days and the robots are coming for your jobs. While the consensus is still out on that last one, the energy sector truly is being transformed through innovation and new technology globally.

All the ways in which people and businesses use energy is rapidly changing. The development, integration, and use of new energy technologies like solar panels, storage batteries, and electric vehicle chargers on our electricity network is on the rise.

How you receive, use and store your energy in ten years’ time will be significantly different to now. Can you remember how your day played out before the iPhone was launched in 2007? How you had to physically go to the bank or sit at a desktop to transfer money? Or how you got around in a new town before clicking open your Google maps app? Or how you had to get the camera out of its case, somehow find focus and then hope that precious moment was still there to be photographed? Ten years is not that long.

Picture this: you’ve just arrived home in your electric vehicle from work. It’s been a sunny day while you’ve been at the office, so the solar panels on your roof have generated enough energy to fully charge your energy storage battery. Because it’s the evening in winter, everyone after work is getting home and turning on the heater, the television, and appliances in the kitchen in preparation for dinner.

Energy retailers are in the business of selling you electricity, obviously, so the price of using power has gone up from earlier in the day (fun fact: the price of electricity is subject to change every 30 minutes). But it’s all good – you’ve got a full storage battery, so you use that to power your home. And while that’s happening, you’ve also plugged your electric vehicle into the wall – not to charge it up, but to discharge the energy you’ve got left in your car’s battery to sell onto the Auckland energy network and make yourself a little bit of money.

At the end of the night as you’re getting ready for bed, you reverse the charge of your car battery so that you’re filling it up for the commute to work tomorrow – either from what’s left in your storage battery, or directly from the power grid now that the price of electricity has dropped again. The next day while you’re at work, it’s sunny again, so you’ve got another full storage battery at the end of the day, and you repeat the cycle.  

It sounds futuristic. But it wasn’t that long ago that the idea of solar panels powering homes was scoffed at – now they’re being made compulsory in all new homes in California. Once upon a time when people heard the word batteries, AAs were the first thing to come to mind – now batteries keep Australians from losing power during power outages in record time.  

As the company responsible for providing power to Auckland, and as the country’s largest electricity distributor, Vector has embraced and led this change. It means a change to how we operate our network business, but that’s not a bad thing. Instead, we’re investing in the technology, solutions, and systems available to us now that will provide you the choice of how you receive, use, and store energy. It’s about making the right choices and providing customers options to support Auckland’s long term interests. With a projected $2 billion of investment required on Vector’s network to meet growth in Auckland over the next decade, we know that the money can only be spent once and if we get it wrong, it’s Aucklanders who will foot the bill.

On top of all that, climate change is placing limits on the amount of carbon society can afford to release into the atmosphere.  As the cost of carbon rises, increased economic pressure will encourage the shift to clean energy, which is already starting to happen. At times that the network is not available, such as during a big storm or a draught in the catchment areas of New Zealand’s hydro lakes, this change will give you more options to manage your own resilience, to ensure choice and good economic outcomes for all of Auckland.

Vector Lights on the Harbour Bridge is a symbol of the new times we are entering. It is the first main bridge in the world to have all its lighting needs fully met by solar and battery technology. For us, we hope it serves as a reminder to you and Aucklanders that times are changing; you have more choice; and that Vector understands that change, and will provide you the options to exercise your choices.

This content is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights in partnership with Auckland Council.

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Renewed call for a Māori seats referendum, Russel McVeagh report released, and the stoush between two leading NZers over a charity concert escalates.

Acting PM Winston Peters has renewed and updated his call for a two part referendum on the Māori electorates. Radio NZ reports his comments made yesterday, which were that any electoral changes should go to the country, rather than being decided by politicians.

One part of Mr Peters’ proposed referendum would be on whether the seats should be abolished, and the other would cover Labour MP Rino Tirikatene’s bill which would entrench the Māori seats in law, requiring a 75% majority in Parliament to abolish them. Labour is deeply opposed to a referendum on abolishing the seats.

What is the state of Māori seats at the moment? It’s quite possible the number of seats will be reduced from seven to six, as Māori people are currently slightly more likely to move to the general roll, with the option to switch currently open. Māori commentator Morgan Godfery has written about this on Māui Street (which will soon have premium content that I feel safe in recommending in advance) The second half of the article though focuses on whether NZ First could support Mr Tirikatene’s bill, so that they could then push for a referendum on Māori seats – the legislative manoeuvring that would allow that is a bit complicated but Godfery’s piece explains it.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget the history of Māori seats. There’s a perception that they give Māori people ‘special privileges’ or some sort of advantage – this is nonsense. A vote in a Māori seats counts the same as a vote in a general seat. Throughout history they’ve even been used as a way of diluting the Māori voice – here’s a long piece from academic Danny Keenan which explains that. Surely, if the Māori seats are to be abolished, it should be a decision for Māori alone to make. Otherwise, it would be a case of the majority dictating to a minority group what their rights are.

Dame Margaret Bazley’s report into the culture of law firm Russell McVeagh has found severe failures of governance and management, reports the NZ Herald. The firm became the face of widespread sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal industry, after repeated and continual mistreatment of interns was revealed by Newsroom earlier this year. Dame Margaret’s overview of the report is published on The Spinoff, and highlighted the courage of the women who spoke out.

The dispute between two leading New Zealanders over a charity concert at Eden Park has escalated further. Sir Ray Avery, who is backing the concert described former PM Helen Clark as being “petty” – she the responded on Radio NZ by saying he had picked the wrong person to try and bully. It is just the most amazing stoush.

Meanwhile, our very own Toby Morris has weighed in – he lives just down the road and has broken with the neighbourhood association in saying that actually, concerts wouldn’t be too bad. He reckons that the stadium is an asset, and it’s better to see that used rather than not.

The Ministry of Social Development is again under fire for how it treats beneficiaries, reports Radio NZ. This time it’s over allegations of benefit fraud, huge numbers of which turn out to be false, spurious or malicious. It follows reports that pensioners are far more likely to have MSD debts wiped, relative to beneficiaries.

Christchurch’s Council has been forced to reveal the cost of a library touchscreen wall, after Attorney General David Parker threatened to step in, reports The Press. And the cost was one of those numbers which is probably fairly reasonable when broken down, but expressed as a single number sounds whopping – $1.2 million. The Taxpayers Union, who originally pushed for the information to be released, called it a win for transparency.

Councillors in Taupō have denied an evangelical group’s request to hold five months of preaching in a highly visible public park, reports Stuff. The group wanted to use a part right on the lakefront, which sparked a debate among the councillors as to whether they should be allowing the participants to be “human hoardings” for their faith. In the end, all of the councillors present voted against it.

I’m sure the response to this one will be measured and calm – respected Northland GP Dr Lance O’Sullivan has suggested that parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids be penalised, on The Project. It’s long been an issue he’s focused on, famously storming the stage at an anti-vax movie screening to tell the attendees off. O’Sullivan says the science on vaccination is totally clear – it’s undisputedly better than the alternative.

Former tech titan Kim Dotcom says he’ll go to the Supreme Court, after a bid to get his extradition to the USA overturned failed, reports One News. Mr Dotcom says his case could set a dangerous precedent for other New Zealanders. He and his three co-accused could face decades in jail if they are extradited.

The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from around New Zealand delivered directly to your inbox each morning.

Right now on The Spinoff: Elle Hunt lives in London and really, really misses the coffee of Wellington. Former MP Peter Dunne derides the “stupidity” he’s seeing from the opposition. And Dan Taipua writes about a Māori sci-fi film festival taking place in Auckland this very weekend.

This is an absolutely fascinating history of a welfare scheme that basically gave artists money to go and do art. It was called the PACE programme, and even though it was only scrapped about six years ago, it has seemingly faded very quickly from the popular memory. But the Pantograph Punch has gone deep into the story behind how it rose and fell, and what it meant for the artists on it and their work. Here’s an excerpt:

“What did we lose when PACE was killed off? “In the long run,” Antony Deaker suggests, “PACE is great because it buys people time. It validates people’s career choices and it buys them time to get grounded and set up again after training.” When PACE was killed off, that time disappeared.

A lot of Antony’s clients came to him post-training – post-art school, post-drama school, post-music or fashion or film school. Many of them lacked the skills to set up sustainable careers. They knew their art, but they didn’t know how to transform it into work. Others struggled with self-confidence, or didn’t have access to capital. “Obviously everyone’s poor,” Antony says, “and so to start a business or a career with sometimes negative capital is obviously a challenge.”

In sport, Wyatt Crockett will run out for his 200th Super Rugby match tonight. It’s an astonishing achievement for the Crusaders prop, given the rigours of the competition – particularly the NZ derbies in recent years. Not only that, the Christchurch stadium is going to be renamed in Crockett’s honour for one night only – Rugby Pass has a story about that, as well as tributes to Crockett from seemingly every single person involved in rugby.

From our partners, Vector’s Beth Johnson writes that one of the best reasons for lighting up the Auckland Harbour Bridge, is that it makes diversity impossible to ignore.

That’s it for the The Bulletin. If you liked what you read, and know other people who would find it useful, please forward it on and encourage them to sign up here.

This content is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights in partnership with Auckland Council.