Breaking up NZ’s gentailers may be an own goal for consumers – Catherine Beard

Opinion byCatherine BeardNZ Herald·24 Aug, 2026 05:29 AM5 mins to readCatherine Beard is director of advocacy for BusinessNZ.Contact chief executive Mike Fuge, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Contact chairman Rob McDonald at Glenbrook. Photo / Brett PhibbsCalls to break up New Zealand’s gentailers (electricity generators and retailers) are growing louder.Consumer advocates, the Auckland Business Chamber and politicians in NZ First have all shared their reckons that dismantling the country’s integrated electricity companies will bring prices down. My response? “Be careful what