Charles Chauvel

Wellington, July 9 NZPA - Labour Party energy spokesman Charles Chauvel says he's investigating whether the failure of an oil company in which Genesis Energy had a stake will financially hurt taxpayers.

Mr Chauvel said the state-owned power company was a major investor in Austral-Pacific, which is being wound up by receivers.

The New Zealand public had a right to know how much Genesis may have lost, he said.

"My concern would be that if Genesis has lost considerable amounts of money, at the same time as it is under pressure to return a higher dividend to the Crown, this will put the company under even greater pressure to raise electricity prices."

Mr Chauvel said he intended writing to ministers and the company to get details on losses and potential consequences on customers.