Transpower: Climate fight lessons from lockdown

Transpower says electricity use has ticked up compared to last winter due to new work patterns.

Chief executive Alison Andrew said power use dipped sharply as businesses cut use during the level 4 lockdown but since restrictions have been lifted there’s been a slight increase in use.

Although the data is early, she said this could be attributed to large numbers of people still working from home — and turning on heaters — while workplaces are also up and running and using the usual amount of electricity.

The state-owned enterprise released a major report on the country’s energy future in the week after it went into lockdown and she said while it was still too early to know if forecasts needed to be updated, there were clear lessons the country could learn from Covid-19.

Transpower believes the economy will be increasingly electrified, driven mainly by the rapid shift to electric vehicles and away from coal boilers and heaters in public buildings and factories.

Andrew said now was the ideal time to act on climate change by capitalising on New Zealand’s renewable energy advantage, even if it was difficult to see beyond the impact of the pandemic.

“It’s acute, it’s right here, right now and it’s in our face. Something like climate change is chronic — it’s going to be as dramatic if not more but it’s taking time to build,” she said.