Article – RNZNona Pelletier Senior Business ReporterThe majority shareholder of Auckland’s lines company says the electricity market is failing consumers and is calling for more competition and regulatory reform to address market shortcomings. Entrust, which owns just over 75 percent of Vector on behalf of 372,000 customers, said the government’s proposed Winter Energy Reliability Obligation policy was an indication New Zealand’s electricity market was failing consumers. “The whole reliability obligation that the government’s putting in is actually the indication that the market is failing consumers, and something needs to happen,” Entrust chair Denise Lee said. Lee said the Electricity Authority had been too cautious in addressing structural failings in the market, which had resulted in the need for government intervention. Lee said the electricity market appeared to lurch from one energy crisis to the next, which was an unacceptable situation for a country with New Zealand’s natural resources.