The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
The recently announced Energy Competition Taskforce has announced "two packages of work that collectively aim to encourage investment in new generation, bolster competition and provide more opportunities for consumers to manage their own electricity use and costs" and said it is "serious about creating change". Of particular interest to Rewiring Aotearoa was the section about better rewarding customers to "encourage greater uptake of things like time-of-use pricing plans, rooftop solar and batteries, and demand response by industrial firms," as EA chair Anna Kominik said in a press release. This is positive and aligns with what we've been asking for and what we outlined in our symmetrical export tariffs paper, but it is important to note that these are not rebates. This is just cost-reflective two-way pricing that levels the playing field between small and large generators. As Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says: "To date, every home giving energy back has been getting a bad deal. We believe their contribution to the system should be accurately priced and, as we said when the taskforce was announced, we want a level playing field, not just a slightly less uneven playing field." Casey says this pricing also needs to be mandatory otherwise the EA risks further delay to keeping bills down and building a more secure and resilient energy system. "We talk about guaranteeing investment signals on the big end of town. How about the average Kiwi got some guaranteed investment signals that are fair?"
The Task Force is investigating the eight initiatives listed below. It will present advice to the boards of the Commission and Authority for final decisions.
Package 1 – Enable new generators and new retailers to enter, and better compete in the market
• Consider requiring gentailers to offer firming for Power Purchase Agreements
• Introduce standardised flexibility products
• Prepare for virtual disaggregation of the flexible generation base as a backstop measure
• Investigate level playing field measures such as requiring gentailers to treat the retail arm of
their business the same as they treat other retailers (‘non-discrimination rules’), as a
backstop, which could be promptly deployed if other interventions are not effective.
Package 2 – Provide more options for end-users of electricity, options being considered include:
• Requiring distributors to pay rebates when consumers export at peak times
• Requiring all retailers to offer time of use pricing
• Requiring retailers to better reward consumers for supplying power by offering prices that reflect the value of the electricity at the time they supply it (eg, at peak times)
• Appropriately rewarding industrial consumers for the benefit their short-term demand flexibility brings to the system.
Visit www.ea.govt.nz/taskforce for more details on these measures.
And see how much more customers with solar and batteries exporting at peak times could be paid on our symmetrical export tariffs page.
Everyone is rocking on down to Electric Avenue today (this one online, not that other small one in Hagley Park in Christchurch), so let's ride the lightning: profits and electricity prices keep going up, as panels keep going down; a new paper puts a number on how much more homes with solar sell for; we're bottling things up with big and small batteries and they are eating into gas in Australia and California; transport emissions drop across the Tasman as a result of Government EV incentives, while HEB Construction electrifies its fleet; electrons are coming from above in China; and Xpeng announces the arrival of a crazy looking electric van/aircraft carrier.
Read moreDownloadWarren G and Nate Dogg said it best when they said: 'Regulators, mount up!' - and this week, they have.In a rare joint open letter, three different regulators - EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), the Commerce Commission and the Electricity Authority - have basically told the lines companies to pull their socks up and make the most of ‘non-network solutions’ (AKA stop building more expensive poles and wires and start looking at customers and new technology as part of the solution!).
Read moreDownload"The LNG announcement from earlier this month has set the stage: electricity, and the energy sector more broadly, is set to be a major election issue this year. Casey has compared electricity to telecommunications, an area where services have become much cheaper in the last decade with technology advancing. “There are supply challenges for the grid and natural gas, and increasing pressure to find sustainable alternatives as reliance on fossil fuels becomes less viable,” he wrote in a Newsroom piece earlier this month, heralding the “electric election”.
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