Electric Kiwi is shutting its doors to new customers, blaming soaring wholesale energy prices. 

The power retailer says prices have increased by nearly 50% in the past six months, and it has now reached a point where every new customer would lose it money. 

It says the big four gentailers —Mercury, Contact, Meridian and Genesis— all made over $2 billion in record profits last year. 

Electric Kiwi CEO Luke Blincoe told Mike Hosking the Electricity Authority and Commerce Commission have allowed market failure to happen under its watch.  

He says we rely on the market to deliver an essential service efficiently and that's not happening with the current distortions. 

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