ABSTRACT
The guidelines, created by the national regulator, the Electricity Commission, were voluntary rather than compulsory as part of a government approach which preferred self-regulation by companies to "heavy-handed" regulation by government. "Light-handed" regulation was seen as preferable to "heavy-handed" regulation, which were considered complex, costly to administer and not always capable of producing the desired result. Mercury Energy initially denied any wrongdoing, but in the days following Mrs. Folole Muliaga's death it became apparent that Mercury Energy was not compliant with government guidelines on disconnections involving low income consumers. While the public debated whether the Muliaga family or Mercury Energy were most to blame, sections of the media also raised the possibility that the regulatory structure of New Zealand's electricity sector might also have been a key contributor to the tragedy. Wholesale and retail markets for electricity were created, so that instead of having to buy electricity from one state-owned monopoly, wholesale customers now had a choice of power suppliers.
