Nine To Noon for Tuesday 28 January 2025

09:05 Perfect storm leads to higher power prices 

After a dry year sent electricity prices for industry soaring in 2024, household power bills are increasing as multiple factors collide. Household bills were insulated from last year's electricity price shocks because retailers that sell them electricity buy future contracts to maintain a stable price. But they are rolling over to higher contracts that reflect what analysts think the supply and demand equation in the electricity market will be in the months and years ahead. That means retailers have to increase prices for households and businesses. And on April 1 - all monthly bills will increase by as much as $25 a month - as transmission and lines costs go up for maintenance and further investment in networks. Consumer says its Powerswitch website usually has low traffic in summer, but it has been overwhelmed in recent weeks as people search for better deals. According to analysis by retailer Octopus Energy - increases they've seen range from 10 per cent up to as much as 30 per cent in the space of a year. There are moves to improve the electricity market but the price increases are already bedded in. Octopus Energy's chief operating officer is Margaret Cooney. Paul Fuge is Consumer's head of Powerswitch. 

09:20  Lessons from La Palma helping to predict volcanic eruptions in Auckland

A New Zealand volcanologist has travelled to one of Spain's Canary Islands to learn more about how to predict eruptions in Auckland. La Palma has a volcanic field similar to that in New Zealand's largest city and  it is also close to populated areas. In 2021 lava poured out for 85 days, but local officials waited until the eruption began before beginning to evacuate homes. Dr Geoff Kilgour of GNS science wants to be able to tell people to leave dangerous areas before the earth opens up.

09:35 Disruptive radios hooked from online markets 

An incident where a baby monitor could have disrupted 111 calls on One NZ's cell network led authorities to block sales of radio products online. The Radio Spectrum Management team at MBIE says it had to intervene to stop the sale of 35-thousand non-compliant radio products. That was done in the year to June 2024. The radio spectrum team says New Zealand consumers were often unaware of the risks of buying radio products such as the baby monitor. In that instance, staff had to find the product and ask the owner to stop using it. The radio spectrum management team says the responsibility is on the consumer to ensure they are buying compliant radio products. Nathan Schaffer is the manager of Radio Spectrum Investigations. 

09:45 USA correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben

As President Donald Trump's administration deports migrants to countries around the world, a stoush with Colombia appears to be cooling. Trump's cabinet picks continue to be confirmed through the Senate, but many await the controversial appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head Health and Human Services and how that will be handled.

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

10:05 Lula Washington didn't see dancers like her - so she created a company to train them

When Lula Washington was growing up in Los Angeles, she'd never seen black ballet dancers on a stage before. That changed in her 20s, when she went to a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. It sparked an interest in dance - which led her to dance classes and eventually a Master of Fine Arts in Dance at UCLA. She and husband Erwin decided to open a dance company to train and showcase a new generation of black dancers. Nearly 50 years later, they're still going. New Zealand audiences will get a chance to sample two new works Lula Washington Dance Theatre is bringing to the Auckland Arts Festival this year. Kathryn speaks to Lula and her daughter Tamica  - who's Associate Director of the company - about their dance journey and what Kiwi audiences will experience.

10:35 Book review: Three of the best from 2024    

Ralph McAllister reviews three of his favourite books from last year: Our Evenings by Hollinghurst, published by Picador, Cocktails with George and Martha by Philip Gefter, published by Ithaka Press Limited, and Clete by James Lee Burke, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

10:45 Around the motu: Kelly Makiha in Rotorua

Rotorua police have just wound up a three-day operation targeting the city's homeless, drugged driver Hemana Morgan-Edmonds jailed, Nia Glassie's murderer to remain behind bars, and Casey Paul never misses a day of school.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist with the Rotorua Daily Post.

11:05 Business commentator Oli Lewis 

Oli discusses Treasury's concerns about the affordability of our transport promises, whether the Government has decent projects to attract foreign investment and his time as a digital nomad in Argentina last year. 

Oli Lewis is infrastructure editor at BusinessDesk.

11:30 From canvas to conservation: How Anna Gibbs is using art as activism for NZ's birds

Anna Gibbs is a relatively new arrival to Aotearoa, having moved here four years ago from London.  She draws inspiration from nature, in particular, New Zealand's native birds. Her work has found a legion of fans - so popular its netted her over 100,000 followers on Instagram and in the Premium Artist Award at Auckland's Art in the Park event in 2023. She joins Kathryn to talk about her parents' role in influencing her choice of subject matter - and her upcoming exhibition at the Little River Gallery in Banks Peninsula.

11:45 Sports correspondent Glen Larmer

Glen discusses the latest winners of the Australian Open - Madison Keys who won the women singles and men's champion Jannik Sinner. Glen also talks about football with Auckland FC continuing to soar in their debut A-League season, while Chris Wood's Nottingham Forest were given an English Premier League reality check, losing 5-0 to AFC Bournemouth - a club, like Auckland FC, owned by American billionaire Bill Foley. There's also basketball, rugby and American Football - can Kansas City win a third Super Bowl in a row?

 

Music played in this show

Track: Just Do You

Artist: Lord Echo and Mara TK

Time played: 11:45 am