The ENA board has agreed to become a ‘shareholder’ in Taranaki-based Are Ake – previously known as the National New Energy Development Centre – conditional on a review of the shareholder agreement.
The ENA has welcomed the draft report from the Climate Change Commission setting out its pathway for New Zealand to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
ENA’s consumer reference panel met recently, comprising a diverse group of sixteen consumer stakeholder representatives including Federated Farmers, the Property Investors’ Association, Fincap, Age Concern New Zealand, Multi-Cultural New Zealand and the Citizens' Advice Bureau.
The pandemic response plans in place and long practiced by electricity lines companies around the country meant lines companies have been well able to ‘weather the storm’ of the pandemic and keep New Zealand’s lights on.
The Electricity Networks Association is calling on the Electricity Authority to bring forward its investigation into whether lines charge reductions have been passed to consumers – because clearly they haven’t.
New Zealand’s 27 lines companies are sympathetic to the potential financial pain of their retailer partners as they are faced with the downstream challenges created by Covid-19 business lockdown.
But not at the expense of their own businesses’ viability.
Some households are paying more for a connection to the electricity grid than other households. Households who use more power are, in effect, cross-subsidising households that use less power.