Blogs - Page 10 | Energy Link

Records Fall as Dry Period Continues

Inflows into the South Island’s major hydro lakes since February rank as the lowest on record, by quite a margin.

1992 Shortage Revisited

With the storage lakes falling fast, it got me thinking about other ‘dry year’ events we’ve experienced, which really helps to put the present, and the market, into context.

Competition, the Internet and the Customer

I was privileged to speak at the Energy Management Association of NZ (EMANZ) annual conference in Wellington last week and showed how market reforms over the last two decades, and now the Internet, are working together to disrupt the retail electricity market.

Should I stay on spot or switch?

After a long period of low spot prices and low volatility in spot prices, hydro storage lakes are emptying out and it’s a timely reminder that the hydro situation can change very quickly. But it raises the question: when spot prices start to rise, should I stay on a spot pricing plan, or should I switch to a fixed price plan?

Cost on the Line – The rising cost of delivering electricity

The charges for delivery of electricity (a.k.a. lines charges) include the cost of providing local networks and the transmission grid, and are published by local network companies, typically from 1 April for the year ahead. Now that the dust has settled from the most recent round of price adjustments, let’s take a look at what’s happening to line charges in major centres around the country.

Is the Answer Blowing in the Wind - an Update?

I was once again privileged to speak at NZWEA’s annual conference held in Wellington last week, updating some aspects from 2016 and posing a paradox for 2017.

Energy Link’s April 2017 Price Path

Our Price Path is a forecast of electricity spot prices at over 200 nodes on the national grid. The latest version was released last week and covers the period from April 2018 to March 2033.

Energy Exchange Reverse Auctions

Since launching in August 2016, the Energy Exchange has run reverse auctions covering a range of site types and sizes, proving its ability to deal with the wide range of needs typical of many larger electricity consumers.

What drives electricity prices?

What drives electricity prices? Demand? Fuel costs? Losses? Transmission constraints? Carbon costs? The cost of new generation? Inflows? Well they all have an impact to a certain degree. The time frames vary but the answer in the long run is surprising, especially given that we are currently running at over 80% renewable generation.

Back-casting 2016

One of the many challenges for anyone forecasting electricity spot prices, as Energy Link has done since first trading in 1996, is that some key factors affecting spot prices are fundamentally unpredictable in the short to medium term: inflows to the hydro lakes are a case in point.