Little effect of pricing changes on power bills
Reports that Southland households’ power bills are set to drop by about $80 each year are off the mark, PowerNet chief executive Jason Franklin says.
On Wednesday the Electricity Authority announced new guidelines for transmission pricing.
This prompted reports that Southlanders would be the big winners from the changes.
The reports suggested Southlanders were in for an overall percentage decrease to their annual bill worth $80, while households in the King Country or eastern Bay of Plenty would most likely pay about $30 more per year.
However, Franklin suggested the transmission pricing changes would in fact have little effect on Southlanders’ power bills.
It was forecast that some Southlanders would pay slightly more and some slightly less from 2023, he said.
The misunderstanding seems to have stemmed from the fact that the Electricity Southland Ltd distribution network, also known as the Lakeland Network, was projected to receive an overall percentage decrease worth $80 a year.
However, Electricity Southland supplies to the Frankton area in Queenstown and also Wa¯ naka, not the Southland region.
‘‘Electricity Southland is a small electricity distribution network that supplies parts of Frankton and Wa¯ naka,’’ Franklin said.
‘‘It makes up less than 10 per cent of the customer base in the Queenstown Lakes region.’’
PowerNet is the electricity network management company that delivers power to Invercargill, Southland, West Otago, parts of Central Otago, and Stewart Island.
The networks it manages include The Power Company Ltd, Electricity Invercargill Ltd, and Electricity Southland Ltd.
PowerNet has 70,500 customers in total. Just 2000 of them are with Electricity Southland.
Franklin said The Power Company supplied 37,000 Southland customers, whose charges were projected to rise nearly $10 a year.
Electricity Invercargill supplied 17,000 customers, and their charges were projected to decrease by slightly more than $20 a year.
The Electricity Authority also said the new guidelines would not increase charges overall.
For the PowerNet managed networks, the proposed overall distribution pricing change was very modest, Franklin said.
‘‘Overall, the transmission price reduction is 0.5 per cent. Of the current $18.4 million in transmission charges, the proposed methodology will result in charges reducing to $18.3m.’’
The guidelines include a cap on charges to protect consumers and directly connected businesses from big price increases.