Retail Advisory Group report on barriers to group switching and mass market aggregation
The Authority has received and considered a report from the Retail Advisory Group (RAG) on barriers to group switching and mass market aggregation.
The RAG has recommended the Authority take no specific action in respect of group switching and mass market aggregation, but continue addressing general barriers to consumer switching.
The RAG reached this recommendation after examining:
the opportunities for, and potential benefits of, household or small business consumers aggregating to negotiate terms and conditions with electricity retailers that are more favourable than each consumer could achieve individually
whether there are factors limiting group switching and whether there are factors discouraging retailers from engaging with buying groups
whether there is anything the Authority can or should do to remove barriers to group switching.
The Authority has accepted the RAG’s recommendation, noting that the RAG has undertaken considerable empirical analysis and given the issue thorough and proper consideration. The RAG has an independent chair and comprises consumers and persons from lines companies and retailers.
Normal frequency asset owner performance obligations: Proposed Code amendments
In July 2014 the Authority consulted on proposed Code amendments relating to normal frequency asset owner performance obligations. It has now published a paper summarising and responding to submissions at:
This paper is published in association with the workshop planned for 10am to 2pm on Thursday 4 December 2014 at the Authority’s offices in Wellington.
Please email info@ea.govt.nz by Tuesday 25 November 2014 to indicate if your organisation would like to attend the workshop. Include the number of people attending and “Normal Frequency AOPO Workshop” in the subject line.
The Authority has published reports on the stress test results for the October-December 2014 quarter.
The stress testing regime (referred to in the Code as Spot Price Risk Disclosure) requires certain participants in the wholesale electricity market to apply a set of standard stress tests to their market position, and report the results to their respective Boards and to an independent registrar appointed by the Authority.
Questions about the reports or the stress tests can be directed to info@ea.govt.nz. Please include 'stress test' in the subject line.
A reminder that the registry FTP service will close down on 31 December 2014.
From 1 January 2015 all file interchange with the registry must be via SFTP. The report for October shows there are some participants using both FTP and SFTP.
Please ensure all parts of your organisation with a file interchange with the registry have transferred to SFTP, or will be transferring before 31 December 2014.
Changes to the operation of the submission type field in the registry
The Authority has amended the registry functionality to ensure that the registry will automatically adjust the submission type flag according to the profile codes contained in the notice of transfer switch file (NT). The NT file currently allows the trader to notify a change to profile codes on an ICP when a switch is completed.
A gaining trader will still need to ensure that these fields are aligned after completing an ICP switch, otherwise ICP days scaling will result.
The registry functional specification has been updated and is available on the registry homepage.
Information plays an important part in building market confidence and strength.
To assist interested parties in tracking market development, the Authority publishes NZ electricity hedge contracts as a standard section of its weekly Market Brief.
