PLUS: Prime Minister confirms mid-May listing, pre-registration tomorrow.

Her comments came at the end of the first morning of two days' scheduled hearings on the Maori Council's challenge to the government's partial assets sales policy.

Accounting for 12% of total national energy consumption, the residential sector was the biggest gainer in energy efficiency terms.

Solid Energy may have said it's going to develop its carbon-rich lignite fields and get into underground coal gasification, but nothing in its apocalyptic announcements this week say the state-owned coal miner will be allowed to.