Ryan Bridge: How much will Winter cost us this year?

She was a chilly weekend.  Even in Auckland it was only 5 degrees.  We had the heat pump cranking the entire weekend. I spoke to a friend in Marlborough who had the fire going all weekend. They had a proper frost there.  It's right about now you start thinking... how much is all this going to cost me? The answer $250 for May for a house of two persons, one dog.  Already we've spent $70 for June.  This is one of the few bills I pay in our household so it's one of the few I notice.  It's not going through the roof... and is tracking roughly the same as last year.  And disclaimer... our place is old and cold, poorly ventilated and you basically need either air con or heat all the time. There is good news on the energy front for 2025, not that it directly affects us as much, more the big industrial users.  Forsyth Barr released an energy note on Friday... they reckon we'll avoid another big energy crunch this winter. The next one is due 2026.  That means no risk of blackouts. The reason we've avoided this is because electricity producers did a deal with Methanex. And we've had rain - so the hydro lakes have been given a top up.  To avoid future blackouts, we'll need to cut industrial demand and burn more coal.  And that brings us to gas - a shortage of which caused last year's energy price crunch. Forsyth Barr reckons the government's push for gas is unlikely to solve out problems.  It takes two to three years to get a gas field up and running. First you have to find it. Right now, nobody's even looking. No fields are being explored.  By the time you get gas out of the government's $200-million budget buy-in, the energy shortages will likely have passed. It's one thing to let the producers go it alone, it's another to put our money on the line to develop these fields.  There's a genuine question about whether this is smart investment in our future or if taxpayer money is being wasted. A bit like the heat escaping from my old house. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.